#i can barely manage having a tumblr and a twitter account to both post to

[smash-chu]

make a cohost account, make a blue skies account, make a pillow fort account, make a artfol account, share your discord, make a back-up account, make another account, make another account, make another account-

#shitpost #pot dog #pot dot #doodles #sites just remain normal challenge impossible #i can barely manage having a tumblr and a twitter account to both post to #the prospect of making more accounts more places just because shit may go down in flames or threaten to do so is exhausting #i will remain here until the ship is at the very bottom of the ocean cause i'm so tired of extending myself for social media efficiency

[spursdontplaybasketball]

Talk Hockey to Me

tagged by @giirlinterrupted 🤍💙

Tell me about:

1. The thing that got you hooked on hockey

I grew up in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, about an hour south of Hershey, PA. My dad grew up going to watch the Hershey Bears play minor league hockey in the American Hockey League, and he continued the tradition with me (and my sister sometimes.) At first, I only really liked to go to the games for an opportunity to spend time with my dad, which was rare sometimes, but in middle school I somehow ended up being really good at floor hockey when we played it in gym class. One day I managed to score a hat trick, even though I was terrible at every other sport. (I also had a crush on one of the players on my school's hockey team at that point.) So I just kinda thought hockey was fun at that point and started enjoying the actual games more. Then I picked a favorite player from the Bears independently for the first time, and it was Mike Green. I didn't know much about him, just thought he was cool. He turned out to be really good, and when he got called up to the NHL to play for the Capitals, I started watching the Caps games on TV. (I was also lucky that we got the sports channel from Washington DC, despite not being all that close to there.)

2. Your first ever fandom friend

I'm not too established in the hockey fandom on here. I have a personal blog that I rarely use anymore that I used to post occasional Caps stuff on and follow a few Capitals people, but that's on a different account that I rarely use. I know hockey has become a lot more popular on footieblr over the years. I remember a few years back when it was more unusual for these fandoms to overlap that I sent a message or two to people who were in both fandoms that I thought it was cool that they liked both sports like I do. Basically my only hockey friend on here is @giirlinterrupted (and I'm so grateful that she doesn't put Sidney Crosby on my dash like so many other footieblr hockey fans seem to do.) IRL I have been surrounded by hockey fans most of my life though, because it's pretty big in my state in general, so the main time I felt a little more alone on that was the 2 1/2 years I was living in San Francisco. Unfortunately I am currently surrounded by Penguins fans :( as I am living in Pittsburgh. My IRL best friend is also into hockey, but she is a Sabres fan since she is from Buffalo and now lives in Rochester, NY.

3. The jersey you would most like to own

I wish I had an old Mike Green or Jay Beagle Caps jersey. Mike Green is now retired, and Jay Beagle, I don't even know.

4. YOUR player (you only get ONE so choose wisely)

I still have an unhealthy attachment to Jay Beagle even though he's been off the Caps for years. None of the current players can live up to that.

5. A pairing that deserves more fic

Don't really read fic much, but Ovi/Backstrom (I'm so out of the loop that I don't even know if they have a ship name) are adorable together, and idk how popular they are, at least outside of Caps fans.

6. Your favourite on-ice moment

6/7/18. What else? I still cry when I think about it sometimes, and I can barely listen to "I Will Wait" by Mumford and Sons without crying due to that "Worth the Wait" video the Caps put out on social media after the Cup win.

link someone else's art/fic/etc that you love & think everyone should check out

He's here on Tumblr (@mxgicdave) but I could only find my favorite pic of his on Twitter:

link something you made & are proud of & want people to see

Got nothing. I tried to write a few things about hockey in the past, but not since I was like 13. I was writing a story about a minor league hockey player whose playing got impacted by past trauma. Didn't get very far, then I was also trying to write a murder mystery featuring the Capitals, and I got even less far with that.

no pressure tagging:

I have no one to tag! :(

#hockey #washington capitals #i need more hockey friends #not soccer

[watercolorgalore]

Parleying with the Populace (Entering the Conversation)

Why I chose this blog to comment on (For the sake of context):

I would not have found this blog website (Life Imitates Doodles), which I think is very relatable to me and my topic on adventuring with watercolors, without the effort of going through Twitter. It was there when I came across @doodlewash on Twitter after typing “watercolor” in the search bar which led me to its main website called Doodlewash, created by Charlie O’Shields in 2015. It is basically an art community mainly focusing on sharing watercolor arts to the world. I find it really engaging because of all the featured artists, celebrating of special events like the recent World Watercolor Month (also founded by O’Shields since 2016) and the current Inktober, coined by Jake Parker in 2009, and especially the Monthly Watercolor and Sketching Art Challenges.

These monthly challenges are great because the main goal of it is to simply develop and help maintain a routine of practicing your drawings and watercolor skills. I barely managed to participate in the September 2022 Art Challenge where I posted my single submission on both my Tumblr and Twitter accounts accompanied by the hashtag #doodlewashSeptember2022. I believe this is relevant because as part of the audience this time, even I would want to partake in this productive activity. It seems like a good way to see other people’s way with watercolor while we all draw similar themes. These monthly challenges give purpose and something to look forward to everyday in improving our skills in drawing and watercolors. I still cannot believe Sandra Strait actually replied to my comment!

Here is the written text of my initial comment (150 words):

“That’s quite an interesting depiction of a dog breed that I’ve never heard of but looked a bit familiar to me at first. This made me research further and before I knew it, the nostalgia hits. It reminded me of the mythical creature Wendigo. Those blended cool colors, the stressing of the ink, and the unassuming choice of pose really make it look mysterious and bestial. The prompt was “Historic” but I wonder what made you come up with this particular piece. Perhaps it is your fondness for animals?”

What really drew me is how certain animals have ties to the supernatural or beliefs. They can also be meaningful to some cultures and it’s simply just amazing to me. I’m more of a cat person myself actually and one historic cat breed I could think of would be the Sphynx Cat, coincidentally known for their lack of fur as well.

And this is my response to Sandra Strait’s (Creator of the Life Imitates Doodles website and artist ambassador/Current Supply Member/featured community member of Doodlewash) reply as a sign of acknowledgement (50 words):

“What a nice thoughtful gesture and very attentive too! Also, this is exactly why I find the Doodlewash monthly prompt challenges delightful. Not only does it give us purpose to keep practicing with watercolors but it also invokes sentimental feelings. Makes me curious as to why certain things are chosen.”

[yostresswritinggirl]

@butterfly-mochi​ Rewrote this freaking thing thrice because it keeps getting deleted wth tumblr agjvahkfajkvk- I enjoyed writing it a lot tho and since I’m too weak to the characters I ended up writing for all of them (except for Sucrose, im sorry bb huhu, I ran out of brain power). This is my first time writing for so many of them in one go so please excuse me for any mistakes or blandness ywy thank you for letting me write for my baby Ganyu too hhhhh

Universe Reversal 2

Genshin Impact Character Reader and Modern Players with Zhongli, Childe & Ganyu (how they simp for you) (event masterlist / Part 1 / Part 3)

Zhongli the F2P

The most relatable out of the bunch because this man is still broke and can only rely on the primogems he can farm. And he had a LOT. The one thing he doesn’t have a lot on, however, is his luck.

So how did he manage to pull you?: Well after exhausting all his primogem on your banner with nothing but weapons and other characters, he has lost his resolve. But by some weird luck, there was a character bug that was fixed and in his email was the almighty consolation primogem. Enough for ONE pull. And by the Gods he FINALLY got you.

He’d nonchalantly post his screenshot of pulling you using a single acquaint fate in his friend group without any words and everyone else just loses their shit. “You got them in one pull?!” “Yeah” A riot.

This was partnered with the fact that not only is Zhongli an F2P player, but also barely has any five star characters.

He looks calm and apathetic over the news, but behind the screen he’s exhausted and relieved, silently livid.

He has no primogems left to squeeze for a constellation so you’re instead pampered with the best weapon suitable for you (because that’s all he keeps getting).

Zhongles spends most of his time farming for materials to quickly level you up, unlocking all your stories and voiceline, but he fucked up on your build (his artifacts are messy).

He follows communities, forums and videos regarding your character to know all the things he needs to perfect your build. You can barely make a dent against normal mobs, so he knew he was doing something VERY wrong.

Is the type of person to keep refreshing the page for new content, very updated.

Ask him a question about your character and he’s gonna bring you the word vomit that is his research. He’s not gonna stop- probably accidentally developed a copypasta for you.

Also follows your VA in both Tiktok and Twitter to indulge in every bit of content. He also has that screenshot of his pull saved and locked.

On his birthday, a friend of his gifted him a chibi plushie of you and he has treasured it ever since, treating and handling it like its a figurine.

“It is merely pure luck and grace from the gacha gods that I got this character, and I will make sure that they know I am very grateful for this fortune.”

Favorite Voiceline: Birthday Message

Childe The Whaler

This lucky wealthy bastard with no remorse for his money whales for EVERY character. He’s making a collection, which is to get all the characters, especially the five stars. So when your banner finally popped up, he’s gonna square up and trigger a whole ass meteor shower.

How he pulled you: Money. His luck with this games are actually not the best so he always compensates with money, he got you halfway through the first failed pity, almost giving him a heart attack that he might actually break the bank just to get you.

And then he pulls more to raise your constellation lol.

The first thing he does is look over your character info and read through it all; constellation infos, your base stats, artifact compatibility.

At the end when he’s maximized everything, he would then focus on playing around with your character *coughs climbing noises coughs*

He thought you’d just be another part of his collection but playing with your character was very enjoyable and in-line with his playstyle- oops 100 screenshots with the Kamera-

Any and all merchandise that he fancies would be his, and he’s definitely flexing it to the other sweetie nerds who call themselves simps. He’s fighting for the simping title, and he’s currently neck and neck with this fanartist in Pixiv.

Speaking of that fanartist, he definitely commissioned an expensive and detailed portrait of you, full rights and everything. No one else was allowed to use it but him.

Was also the first one with the audacity to call out your VA to create an account on Tiktok to create more content with your voice. He was successful.

His obssession also comes in the form of self-indulgent contents, and had been keeping track of the ship wars happening. During conventions, he cosplays as the character shipped with you the most (or the character he thinks should end up with you).

Silently scrutinizing those who cosplay you, only ever taking pictures with/of the best looking one, sorry haha

Definitely flaunts that you are his waifu/husbando and will fight for best girl/best boy during debates or polls. Has mobilized the community to vote for you once. He’s very persuasive.

“Hm? Why I’m just the best collector in the game, and I am more than happy to let everyone know that I am their number one fan haha, everyone who claims otherwise is definitely wrong!”

Favorite Voiceline: More About (Y/N) I-IV, (Y/N)’s Hobbies...

Ganyu the Employed

Ganyu, our dearest overworker, is one of the players in the older stage who actually has a job but still plays Genshin for their past times. The gorgeous sceneries and the music is her main focus in playing the game, not much of a try-hard but still decent in the combat mechanics.

How she pulled you: You came home within 50 pulls! And you appeared again after another 10 pull! Ganyu was so SHOOKT and so distressed because oh goodness, what does she do? She doesn’t know anything much about you!

Will rewatch your three trailers to try and understand your skills better, ended up saving the soundtracks from them because that was such a nice trailer music! Tnbee gains a new follower!

Ganyu will take a while before she can properly play or build you up because she’s so busy with work, she only ever plays when she feels fully done with her work.

During her break she plays with your character while multi-tasking on eating, earphones plugged in and sight on the phone as she farms materials and artifacts for you.

The moment she gets more help from her player friends tho, holy shit, you just ended up being so OP. She had so many good artifacts and weapons for you because she didn’t know what they were for before.

She loves how you’re so easy to use and can easily solo the enemies and even the boss fights. A huge breather, because now Ganyu can cheese the battles that takes a while, to give her more time to focus on the storyline and lores.

Since Ganyu plays for the story and aesthetic, she’ll find you almost always in her team. Still very proud of her pull, she makes the best screenshots of your fights or in the best angle through exploration.

Treasures you so much she starts talking to her phone- “Ah, no, please don’t fall.” “There’s violetgrass up there, let’s try and get it”

Blushes everytime you produce a sound when climbing, doesn’t change you anyways tho

Hums to your trailer music while working, and if permitted, would have the song on repeat while she buries herself in work. She finds it really refreshing and the time she spends in work miraculously flies by fast when she gets lost in the sound.

At one point, when she was given a day-off or if the convention was on her free time, she attends to look for cosplayers of you and take a picture. No one rejects her because she’s so adorable and cute when asking shyly.

Had brought a decent amount of merchandise, preferably the functional/practical ones like a phone cover, mug or keychain. Also has an earphones clamp with your little chibi self as the holder.

When asked, she would shyly announce that she likes your character the most.

“Their character theme and music really soothes me during work, it feels nice to have them, and I have not once regretted ever pulling for them. They are the best.”

Favorite Voicelines: Good Night/Afternoon..., About Us, Something To Share..., Interesting Things...

so enjoyable...

@moaa @zelos-simp @legionqueensav @dandelion-dreams @snackgod @rxsalinee

#genshin impact x reader #genshin impact #zhongli x reader #childe x reader #ganyu x reader #genshin impact zhongli #genshin impact childe #genshin impact ganyu #exile.circlet #exile.flower #sojourner specials #reeeeeeeeee #gender neutral

[trippin-over-my-fandoms]

I’ve seen this done before but here are my modern!rdr2 social media headcanons for the Van der Linde gang.

some of these are LONG and then some are shorter. doesn’t mean I love any of them any less however. I just did my best with all of them. 

* I treat the gang as family especially for my modern au 

Dutch

frequently uses Facebook and has dozens of friends he doesn’t even know. like if he gets a friend request he’ll accept it. John tells him he might as well just make his page public and Arthur pleads with him to make a facebook PAGE so that his random friends will stop liking posts that Arthur tags Dutch in. 

Dutch has no idea how to make a facebook page. 

he also has a Twitter and a massive following at that. He’s VERIFIED. 

all of his twitter posts are vague though

are they a joke? are they political? is it what he’s eating for lunch that day? literally no one knows.

Hosea

also has facebook but doesn’t use it because why does he need to look at pictures of events he was at. he only uses it to see things he didn’t partake in

also has snapchat but just to keep up with the kids 

because life360 was too much to deal with for everyone

and snapchat is cool

also he can and will spam you with bitmojis 

Arthur

used to use facebook a lot but stopped because he was tired of his posts getting likes from people he didn’t know and friend requests from people Dutch was friends with. 

plEASE

he has a private facebook for a reason, he doesn’t want other people to know his business. 

he also has an instagram but anything he posts on facebook also goes on there. it’s not aesthetic or pretty or anything and he doesn’t even caption over half his pictures. 

he literally only uses social media so that his friends and family know he’s alive

has snapchat because of Hosea but barely knows how to use it 

doesn’t get why everyone wants to use snapchat when teXTING AND CALLING ARE RIGHT THERE

John

the question is what doesn’t he have.

john has been trying to make it big on social media since youtube came out.

his youtube used to have videos on it but he deleted them because they were cringy and arthur liked to send them to the group text. 

plays twitch games on the weekends and sometimes with Jack but he thinks most of the subscribers are there for his kid since most of his solo streams don’t do as well

has a twitter, doesn’t follow Dutch, literally envies that he’s verified. 

he’s tried everything but no matter what he does nothing pans out

uses tiktok to promote twitch streams

instagram feed is mostly selfies of him but 99.9% of the time he’s wearing sunglasses and the caption is some random quote 

also has facebook but only to appease Arthur and Dutch, he doesn’t even have a profile picture. Claims only boomers use it. 

an avid reddit user. if he’s got problems he’ll go to reddit. claims reddit saved his life. everyone’s tired of the story so they stopped asking. 

also uses snapchat more than he should and the only social platform he has more than 100 followers on. 

Charles

same as arthur and has both facebook and instagram and posts the same on both except his are pleasing to look at. 

they’re unintentionally aesthetic 

he uses a psd on all his pictures and won’t share what it is

has monthly life updates that start with some inspirational or deep quote and then text that pushes the instagram word limit

also has a deviantart , has shared psds there before , constantly tries to convince Arthur to get it. 

used to use tumblr but he forgot about it

Abigail

the definition of a facebook mom. 80% of her facebook posts are about Jack or parenting. 

Instagram is similar but also different, she’s actually a relatively successful influencer with over 1,000 followers. 

all of her friends and family (who have instagram) follow her

has snapchat solely for the cute bitmojis and to send John adorable snaps of Jack playing with all the fun filters. 

she also won’t take a selfie unless it’s with snapchat because she no longer trusts her own camera. 

also uses pinterest and has a collaborative board with all the ladies. 

but in general, on her own, she has too many boards. she uses pinterest for EVERYTHING 

Sadie

bold of you to assume she uses social media. 

she does just not a whole lot. 

checks it once in the morning and once at night. 

except pinterest because how dare Abigail get her into it. but even pinterest she only uses in downtime. 

has facebook and instagram but there’s maybe only five posts.

if anything she’ll post on her story

will only snap Abigail and Arthur otherwise she doesn’t use snapchat

all of the social apps are mostly offloaded on her phone anyways

if she needs to know anything she just checks the group text which she has on do not disturb because they text way too much. 

Molly

she’s verified on instagram 

it’s also the only social platform she’ll use, which frustrates Dutch because he wants to be friends with her on facebook

but she’s happy with just instagram 

she keeps it simple 

and the main theme to her posts are fun outfits in her ever expanding closet

the other posts are usually of plants that she’s managed to grow. she’s not the best at being a plant mom but she’s still a good one to the ones she’s managed to keep alive. 

the only thing she contributes to the pinterest board are her own pictures of her plants which are overly aesthetic. 

Karen

started out with a normal instagram account then made a spam account which she ended up using way more often.

all of her posts are extremely chaotic

and usually reposts from her snapchat

has a reddit just to troll John

reposted his cringy youtube videos to reddit and got hundreds of upvotes

if you wanna see the most raw and chaotic videos of Arthur and John then she’s the one to follow. 

also if you wanna see Abigail when she’s not all put together. 

is the reason there’s so many memes in the collaborative pinterest board

Mary-Beth

has a instagram but also has a second instagram for art and book reviews

or basically anything she’d post on her tumblr

which is her second most used social

also uses facebook but only because she is an admin for one of those multifandom blogs. 

also begs Arthur to get a deviantart. 

uses pinterest most but only second to Abigail

literally the queen of pinterest DIYs

Micah

has twitter

as far as anyone else knows that’s all he has

maybe he has snapchat?

maybe they saw him on snapmaps once? 

all he ever does with twitter though is retweet anything Dutch posts.

yet somehow he has so many followers. 

Lenny

anyone who has snapchat has streaks with Lenny

even Hosea who doesn’t understand why it’s a thing

he also posts a lot on facebook but it’s mostly travel or vacation photos everyone is just a tad jealous of. 

Lenny always seems to be busy but still has time for streaks with his friends. 

he’s also an up and coming youtube vlogger

Sean

also has reddit to troll john

but he also legitimately uses it too. 

he’s also really popular in the minecraft subreddit , don’t ask

also has twitch and also has way more subsribers than John

and a youtube which he’ll upload (overly edited) twitch streams to

everyone subscribes to him but they don’t tell John that.

also has a tiktok and is up to date on all the trends because of course he is

Kieran

got facebook when he was 10 and just never left.

literally doesn’t use any other social media

he’s not in the group text either so he has to facebook message Arthur to know what’s going on. 

but he shares a lot of memes and cute pictures of animals

he used to follow Dutch but unfriended him when he was the only thing he ever had on his activity feed. 

Susan

has facebook but claims she doesn’t have time to use it

Arthur knows this to not be true because she will like a lot of his posts. 

she’s also guilty of liking every single picture in one post or album. 

Arthur has also caught her looking at memes and using recipes she finds on there. 

also part of the pinterest board but never contributes. 

Trelawny

he has an account for everything

like

litereally

everything. 

even whatsapp and linked in and kik

even tinder

the only one anyone knows about are his facebook, twitter, and instagam

but there’s no posts on any of them except twitter

he’s also verified

but for unknown reasons

any posts on his facebook are ones he’s tagged in

he’s also in a lot of facebook groups

Strauss

runs a subreddit

a paid facebook admin of several pages

the only person who actually knows this is Dutch because Strauss has told him about it

he has no online presence whatsoever out side of those.

Javier

spotify king

has over 500,000 subscribers on youtube

uses instagram but as another platform for his music

edits his own album covers

top tier playlists too

Tilly

aesthetic queen

the most put together and pleasing to look at instagram feed next to Charles. 

uses pinterest a lot as inspiration and for making moodboards.

also uses tumblr to share moodboards

part of the sims global community facebook group

she keeps saying she’s going to start a youtube vlog but hasn’t yet

keeps trying to convince John to let her help him with his youtube.

she also uses twitch to play minecraft and sims

oh and she set up a minecraft server for everyone

Bill

facebook boomer

that’s it

I don’t know how else to put it

probably shares heavily republican posts

Swanson

didn’t use social media until tiktok.

he doesn’t do dances or anything but he does post weirdly obscure and chaotic videos that end up trending on more than one occasion

it’s usually drunk ramblings in his car that end up being hilarious

or videos of the others almost dying or ending up in the ER

Pearson

facebook boomer but make it cool.

also shares conservative posts but less offensive ones compared to Bill’s

likes almost every post any of his friends share

also comments on them too

Uncle

does he have social media? no one knows for sure. 

yet somehow he knows what’s going on

even if nobody can find any of his social accounts or have ever seen him using one before let alone doing anything on his phone other than playing cheesy mobile games.

#rdr2 #red dead redemption 2 #modern rdr2 #arthur morgan #dutch van der linde #hosea matthews #john marston #charles smith #molly oshea #sadie adler #karen jones #sean macguire #mary-beth gaskill #susan grimshaw #josiah trelawny #kieran duffy #bill williamson #leopold strauss #tilly jackson #javier escuella #micah bell #lenny summers #abigail roberts #orvill swanson #simon pearson #rdr2 uncle

[seercayder]

No but I feel as though artists are probably experiencing one of the most hostile years of posting art online that they’ve ever experienced for maybe forever. And I mean this for both amateur artists and professionals (with maybe a lil bit of bias since I also do The Art).

Tumblr’s nudity ban has crippled any piece that is either NSFW or uses nudity as artistic expression and it ultimately drove away both the artists themselves and a lot of their fans, which destroyed any remaining traction for the artists who managed to remain. Tumblr is no longer an artistic freedom-friendly site and it shows, which is a fucking shame bc they genuinely have one of the better tagging systems than other sites and I believe that most feedback on art there has been positive and friendly, which has now gone the way of the dinosaur much like Deviantart.

Twitter has problems with image compression but their biggest issue is toxic abuse, which I find to be the most damaging to artists out of all the other problems i’m listing here. Both the lure of anonymity and the mindset that ‘Speak Loud In Little Words To Make Point Means You Are Important And Right’ has fuelled the absolutely vile comments I have seen directed at artists on the site. Although it’s mainly aimed at fanartists and ship artists, I have noticed unwanted (even rude) criticism on immaculate, well-done art pieces, which is extremely belittling and insulting because the artist (although they may be open to criticism) if they haven’t asked for criticism then that means that they are not in the right mindset to receive any, and therefore it is not your place to throw disparaging comments at them.

But the biggest issue with abuse on Twitter is obviously aimed at fan-artists, especially those those that draw NSFW or “problematic” content. I could go into a whole spiel about how a drawing of a fictional character doesn’t affect reality but in short: If you find disturbing art of a non-existent character (or hey, even non-disturbing art, it’s just something you don’t like) then ignore it. Don’t go and fucking bully the artist you psychopath. If it is truly illegal then report the piece and then see if it gets taken down. Because 90% of the time it won’t be taken down because it doesn’t go against guidelines and you’re just trying to police the site like you’re the thought-police, monitoring other peoples art as if you have the god-given right to. And if you’re a minor stay the fuck out of 18+ accounts. Don’t comment, don’t follow, don’t even look. I am absolutely amazed by the mindset that some children have to waltz into a space not made for them and having the balls to insult the 18+ artist, who have specifically said “no minors”, for posting icky content. It gets even worse when you see how they abuse the Privatter or Curiouscat links the Twitter artists provide, made for anonymous feedback or for being the final barrier for an adult piece that says “hey this stuff is NSFW, don’t click if you are underage, last warning”. I’m gonna go into this more when I cover TikTok in the next few paragraphs. But ultimately, the artists on that site are having to be constantly vigilant against abuse, and it’s not unusual for them having to spend hours going through their 1K+ followers and having to block every underage follower who just didn’t fucking listen to their warnings. Imagine how exhausting and irritating and down-right uncomfortable that must be; having to monitor every fan that sees your work out of fear that they’re a minor seeing adult content or that they could throw abusive comments at you. Horrible.

Instagram is saturated with bots attempting to steal your work or advertise it on their own page and feedback isn’t really a ‘thing’ on there. Also, their algorithm (which may have also been implemented on Twitter, I believe that the Twitter algorithm now avoids promoting popular artist terms, but I can’t be certain bc the Twitter post that pointed this out is long-lost in the depths of my timeline, bc again, no tagging system) is based more around sharing than likes, which can be a huge barrier to artists. Sure, you may like someones art and even leave a nice comment on it, but do you really want to share every piece you come across, especially if it’s not something you would show dear Aunty Susan who follows you? It’s infuriating that a whole site dedicated for images is so difficult to use for artists, and with Instagram implementing features that are similar to Snapchats ‘stories’ it’s clear they’ve moving in a different direction, focusing on momentary attention-grabbing photos. This is simply because Instagram is advertising itself as more of a promotional influencer site nowadays, and anything that could sully their reputation has to be thrown into the algorithm trash. NSFW art or just plain ‘bad’ art? Trash. If you’re not gonna make money for them then why should they bother? You wanna promote your art? Pay for it because the algorithm will absolutely be working against you.

Now, the biggest fucking offender for worst art-sharing site of the year is TikTok (no surprise there), which is absolutely rampant with reposts and uncredited artwork and a gateway for abusive comments against artists. Like the Ouroboros snake, it goes through the same pattern every time; People (usually minors) find art on Twitter or Pinterest and repost it, usually without credit or going against the artist’s wishes about reposting. Then it either goes two-ways: Firstly, if the piece is SFW it will get about five-seconds of interest, a like for the reposter and people will then just move on. TikTok is built entirely around short bursts of satisfaction, feeding a a constant loop of serotonin for a few seconds before you move on. So ultimately, people rarely then hunt down the original artist, especially if their credit isn’t readily available, and usually the original artists doesn’t see any rise in likes, followers or popularity and are usually unaware that their art is even getting any attention on TikTok.

Or, if the art is NSFW, it can go down the second way. It is reposted and, as the majority of TikTok users are under-18, many users find the image uncomfortable, especially if it is a bit more ‘out-there’ or of a ship they don’t like. The reposters sometimes find the image off of Privatter, which is even worse since the piece has been posted to Privatter not just as a final barrier against minors, but also as a form of directing the piece to a specific and niche audience due to it’s... spicer than usual NSFW content. I’m talking really specific pieces with really specific kinks. Now that piece is floating around TikTok, widely seen by the general fans of a fandom, who again, are usually underage. The viewers grow uncomfortable, as the piece is not made for them, especially since sometimes the reposter only posted the piece for shock-value, and would even encourage insulting comments by only posting the credits for the purpose of getting fans to throw abuse at the artist (”The artist is ***** but they ship **** and are icky”) and so the viewers finally decide to make the effort to hunt down the original artist, only to throw insulting and bullying comments at them, made worse by the fact that they are children who don’t have the sense to hold back and have been fuelling their mindset in the echo-chamber that is TikTok.

And as a result of a lot of this hostile feedback for artists, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find a space for amateur artists who are just starting out, since the art community is becoming a little bit scary. I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say that new (or not even new but recently promoted) sites such as Artstation are becoming a better place for professional artists only, but it is very intimidating for learner artists. That’s not necessarily a bad thing - I believe that part of the reason for Deviantarts decline was that the tagging system was horrible, so good art was being drowned out by amateur, fetish content, so more advanced artists were distancing themselves from the site, especially if they were trying to build a portfolio for employment. I also find that fanart usually gets far more likes than more original art pieces, even if the original piece is amazingly good, which isn’t a criticism against fanart but posting your original piece on a site more aimed at professional pieces may help you reach your target audience better and improve likes and interaction. However, that does mean that if you are an amateur, or hell, just an average artists who is still learning, your best bet for exposure is posting your piece across multiple sites and very, very regularly, braving any abusive comments if you try anything slightly “spicy”. Which, obviously, become a very potentially toxic atmosphere and it’s not uncommon for artists to feel burn-out or depressed at their lack of attention or the cyber-bullying they may receive.

I’m not trying to say that posting artwork has always been easy, but there is definitely a more aggressive culture surrounding it and I think artists have to be aware that chances are they will face insulting comments, reposters, frustrating algorithms, cyber-bullying, a lack of interaction and burn-out as they try and appeal to websites that would do the bare minimum for you in terms of promotion.

This isn’t meant to be a post to scare away artists, I just wanted to point out that there is a big fucking problem and it feels as though it’s getting worse. Nowadays, websites have become a bit too comfortable targeting creators rather than fans when it comes to monitoring content and artists have been put under more and more pressure as they face more and more abuse that is rarely addressed, especially by the sites themselves that host the content. Things that are a huge punch in the face for artists, such as NFT’s, are becoming more normalised and it’s honestly just sad.

#art #sorry for the long post but I get passionate about art #and I feel like every day i'm seeing more and more cyber abuse towards artists and it's honestly depressing #artists #twitter #instagram #tumblr #tagging is the best invention and i'm confused why Twitter doesn't even have a better system for it

[en-theheights]

Part two of the problems in HSMTMTS:

In my last post I stated the situations within the fandom not regarding the s*xual assault allegations or the BLM movement. In this post I will be. Let’s dig in.

Sidenote: when I say that someone hasn’t posting anything at all on their Instagram about the BLM movement, I just mean that they haven’t posted anything on their feed. They could’ve posted a bunch of stuff on their insta-stories, but those go away after 24 hours, and it doesn’t count for me.

Joshua, Olivia, and Frankie, were VERY late when it came to talking about the BLM movement. They didn’t say anything until people called them out for not saying anything, and at that point it seemed like they only posted about that stuff because of peer pressure or bandwagoning activism. Olivia is doing her part now, Joshua posted a thread on Twitter a week after eveything had happened. He also said that he donated money. He posted a petition and a photo on Instagram, but that’s it. He hasn’t said anything else about the BLM movement since May when people acttacked him for it. When people dmed his manager on why he hasn’t been speaking up about the matter, she would block them. Here’s what he said on Twitter:

Frankie said something and is mostly doing his part on Twitter, but on Instagram he hasn’t said anything. Joe was hated on for posting the black square and then deleting it because it didn’t follow his aesthetic on Instagram. Although, he is doing his part on Twitter.

Dara, and Julia both unfollowed Joshua on Twitter, as well as unfollowing him on tik tok alongside Sofia too. Don’t know if it had to do with the BLM movement or not, but there is obviously some turmoil between the cast members. (Oh the things I would do to see their group chat rn) Everyone else has been spot on about the BLM movement, and has definitely been doing their part.

Onto the s*exal assault allegations:

Joshua has currently two s*xual assault allegations against him, but the third one came out to be false. Long story short, a young lady on a Twitter named Gr*ce accused him of s*xually assaulting her, but then it came out that she was lying about the whole thing for some “social experiment” She was cancelled VERY quickly. Here are a few twitter threads you can view to learn more about the false accusation:

This is what Gr*ce accuses him of:

This is what what the user shows to say that the accusations are fake:

Tumblr only allows me to post 10 pictures so I’m showing the two screenshots out of them all what I feel is most important. If you want to read more about it, then you can head to Twitter and search up, “Joshua Bassett Grace” and it’ll be the one of the first things to pop up.

This is what he had to say on the situation:

“it has come to my attention that a now deactivated account has spread rumors about me regarding a fabricated encounter with a fan accusing me of sexual assault. this abhorrent rumor is absolutely false, and dangerous to actual victims with real stories. (1/2)”

““i’m sick to my stomach that someone would recklessly perpetuate such defamatory claims. it is vital to respect all peoples boundaries at all times. be kind and be good. (2/2)”

It’s people like her that make others afraid to come out with their allegations because people are just going to assume it’s false. She is a sorry excuse for a human being. Yes, he spoke about the first allegation against him, but he still hasn’t addressed the others ones. This is another one that had come out about him:

It’s not s*xual assault, nor is it s*xual misconduct, really just him being a shitty human being. This one has little to no proof, and it’s hard on what to believe. Personally for me, definitely could be true, but that doesn’t mean he’s an abuser, just more of a guy you shouldn’t try anything with.

The third allegation against him is so hard to comprehend and understand, and I’ve literally searched all over twitter to find it, but I can’t seem to find anything about it. The bare minimum that I know of is that he was messing around with underage girls, but that is just what I could find out of the mess that is Twitter. Still, there is no actual proof that he has been, so believe what you will. Most people have come to Joshua’s defense due to the sporadic accusations against big male celebrities like Ansel Elgort, Justin Bieber, Cole Sprouse, etc. It seems to be a trend now to accuse male celebrities of sexual assault to possibly gain money and internet fame. This is disgusting, and I hope that the other girls that are accusing Joshua are being truthful.

Julia and Joe both liked Joshua’s sexual assault post, but then immediately took their likes back. Julia got on something called Cameo in which you get paid to speak about certain things. Someone asked her her opinion about Joshua’s allegations and she defended him.

Personally for me, she does know Joshua better than the fandom, so Im not surprised at anything she said. She wasn’t going to go on and say bad things about her co star. Although, I don’t think it was smart for her to speak up about it, and then try to beat around the bush. This is also a note to ALWAYS believe the accuser and never the abuser. Just because you stan Joshua does not mean he’s a good person. He’s going to show us what he wants us to see..obviously. stop saying, “he would never do that” because that’s what 12 year olds say. We have no idea the type of person that Joshua is behind closed doors and off camera. This goes for every celebrity ever. Please be smart and know which side to stand for. If the allegations against him turn out to be false, then I’ll switch sides.

Tim Federle was accused of s*xual misconduct a few years ago, but it has finally come to light. Tim hasn’t come out to say anything about it, but it’s DISGUSTING and he needs to address it:

Here a website that you can visit to read more about it:

Once again I’m going to believe the accuser rather than the Abuser. Don’t forget that this allegation against him happened quite a while ago. But because Disney is such a powerful network, any and all information about him during that time has been deleted. Buzzfeed did an article about it, but it was deleted. There is currently a petition going around for Tim Federle to be fire as show runner of HSMTMTS. It needs 1,500 signatures and it’s so close to its goal. Go to change.org and learn more about the petition there. Again, believe what you will, but Tim went very quiet after his accusation came out.

Alright there. I have laid out eveything that I know of that has happened in the HSM fandom. If you still choose to stick with this fandom, than that is completely up to you. I know Tumblr is the safe place for all fandoms, but it’s important that all of you know who and what you’re supporting. This is in no way showing you why you should or shouldn’t leave the fandom. That is completely up to you. Do what you will with this information. I have chosen to overall just completely forget about my involvement with this group and move forward.

Remember:

Know who to stand for

I’m now done with this fandom. If there are still any questions, than my dm is always open.

#hsmtmts #hsm the series #high school musical the musical the series #joshua bassett #tim federle #olivia rodrigo #joe serafini #julia lester #exposinghsmtmts #twitter #this took me a whole day to finsh #i have published it like five times but tumblr keeps shadowbanning it #olease fully read over it and really contain all of the info #its alot

[shawnpetermuffins]

Hi! Can u write a fic about y/n and Connor being both in LA but they don’t know that and they miss each other cause they r childhood bffs and they have thing for each other and Sam playing the Cupid card arranges a surprise visit by bringing y/n to his apartment when Connor was hanging out there and they surprised each other and y/n drops everything and jumps into Connor arms 🥰

This has been in my inbox for so long and I’m sorry that I just got to it! But I hope you enjoy it!

Word count: 1.3k

***

"Con, you doing okay, buddy?" Shawn asks when he walks past me editing - or trying to, at least - on the couch. I know I look stressed. And it's because I can't focus on anything. I try to focus on the task at hand, but my mind keeps wandering to my best friend and how much I miss her and how much I wish she was here. 

"Just missing my friend, is all."

I'm not paying enough attention to see him exchanging a glance with Brian as I check my phone for the hundredth time to see if there's a text from her. Still nothing. I let out a deep sigh and toss my phone on the other side of the couch, frustrated. It’s been days and I have yet to get a text from her. She isn’t mad at me or anything, it’s just that she’s been busy with school and stuff. I understand, I do. But I miss her and I just want to make sure she’s okay. 

---

“We’re going to LA for a few days,” Shawn said the next day, when he caught me once again trying to edit this goddamn film that I’ve been stuck on for far too long now. 

“What? Why?” I look up from my screen and to him, he has a wicked smile on his face and it makes me a little uneasy. 

“We just have a few things we need to do out there before your final show with us.” 

“What do you mean?”

“You’ll see. Just… just know that we’re going to LA tomorrow. It’s nothing too serious, I promise. I just wanted to tell you so that you don’t think we’re just stupid.”

“I already think you’re stupid,” I joked.

He hits my arm and laughs, “Alright, bud. Good luck with editing. Do you need anything?”

“No, I’m good. Thanks, man.”

The airport is packed - as per usual - when we get there, fans upon fans crowd every entrance and it’s hell to get through. Especially at LAX. Which is why I barely see my friend Sam through all the chaos. 

“Brashier!” He yells, tattooed arms spread out. I hum and make my way over to my friend, wrapping him in a bro hug like one does. He shakes my shoulders a little with a wide grin, but he must see that I’m still not living my best life because he frowns quickly. “Why the long face?”

“Have you heard from y/n recently? She won’t answer my phone calls or texts or anything and I’m really worried now.”

Realization hits him suddenly. “No,” he shakes his head. “I haven’t. But I’m sure it’s nothing. Could just be midterms or something.”

“Her midterms were last week,” I mumble, and he hears, I know he does because he wraps his arm around my shoulders and starts to lead me toward one of the less crowded exits. 

“Alright Con, come on. Let’s get you to my place. We’ll get you drunk.”

I don’t want to drink, I want to say, but don’t. 

Brian and Shawn follow close behind us, but we have to stop eventually when the fans notice that the infamous Shawn Mendes is right here in the same airport as them - even though every single one of them is here because they found out his flight information and they knew exactly when he was supposed to arrive. I manage to get by unseen and Brian, Sam and I make our way to the car while we wait for him to finish with this endless line of selfies. 

Sam’s apartment is comfortable - it’s one of my favorite places to be - other than y/n’s place. In fact, I don’t think I would even consider my home my comfort spot. I’m most comfortable when I am in the presence of my favorite people. And that has always been Sam and y/n. 

They’re all talking - Sam, Brian and Shawn, but I”m scrolling through my phone, checking to see if she’s active on her instagram, or snapchat, or anything. And I’m disappointed when I don’t see that green dot next to her name and her snap map says she was last on seven hours ago. I even check Tumblr - because yes, I know she has one and she’s usually on there more than she is on anything else. It’s where she posts her most intimate feelings, I’ve found out. The stuff that she doesn’t want anyone to know - which is why she doesn’t post it on her insta and twitter (where everyone she knows can easily see how not okay she is.) And she doesn’t know that I have this Tumblr account, but I made it years ago when she was going through a really rough time. I had to make sure she was okay. She was - thankfully. 

“Connor, are you okay? You’re looking a little mopey.” Brian slung his arm around me and I rolled my eyes, turning my phone off and throwing it on my stomach. 

“I’m fine. Just tired.”

“No, he’s not. He’s missing his best friend.”

“But,” Shawn started. “That’s why we’re here, because you were missing Sam.”

“You guys know I’m not the best friend, right?”

“What?” Shawn scrunches up his face, severely confused. “But I thought you-”

“I’m the side chick,” he jokes and I groan. Of course Sam is one of my best friends, but he’s right. He’s not the best friend. 

“Then who is? What? I’m confused.”

“It’s me,” the voice of my dreams fills my ears and I’m off the couch in a second, ignoring the hard thud of my phone hitting the ground. “Y/n.” I smile, the first one in days. 

“What’s up, pretty boy?”

“Fuck,” I cross the room and she follows suit, wrapping her arms tightly around my neck. I hold her waist, lifting her off the ground; her legs encompass my torso and I breathe in her soft, lavender scent. “Missed you so much, baby girl.”

“Missed you too, Con.”

I set her back on the ground, holding onto either side of her face, not wanting to lose eye contact, but also scared that if I let her go she would disappear - I didn’t want that either. “Why weren’t you answering my texts? I was worried.”

“Sorry. It just got hard,” she whispers and I know exactly what she’s not saying. 

“That’s why you’re supposed to call me. I’m supposed to help you.”

“How can you help from so far away?”

“I’m a phone call away, always. You know that. I would fly to you in a second if you told me to. I love you too much to let you suffer, baby. Tell me what you want and it’s yours.”

She nods, “Okay.” Her hand finds the back of my head and play with the tufts of hair that rest on the nape of my neck. “Kiss me.”

“What?” I ask because I must be dreaming. Or hallucinating or I’m in some type of alternate universe because my y/n wouldn’t ask me that. She doesn’t like me that way. It’s always been a one way street. There’s no way we’ve hit an intersection here. 

“I want you to kiss me. Because I love you, and I’ve missed you. I want you to kiss me,” she says. “Kiss me, Connor. Please,” she repeats. 

I nod, “Yes. Okay. Okay,” I say and for the first time in our sixteen years of friendship, my lips meet hers and it’s everything I’ve ever wanted it to be and more. I’m pulling her closer, she’s pushing herself further into me and it’s… it’s magic. 

“Whoa! What did we miss here?” Brian exclaims. 

Sam just chuckles and shakes his head. “‘Bout time, Brashier.”

I don’t pay much attention to either of them because all I can focus on is the girl in front of me. The girl who has been in my life for sixteen years and who is the epitome of perfection. The girl who’s now kissing my eyebrow. “Yeah, ‘bout time, Brashier.”

I can’t help but laugh. “You’ll be the death of me, y/l/n.”

“As long as it’s me and not some other girl.”

I shake my head, “No. Definitely not.”

***

Connor Tag: @divinginfearlessly @adorluvr @enchantingbrowneyedgirl @bettroff @bringitttback @myyohmyuohmyy @madison-malfoy @shawnieeboyy @mutuallynotmutual @tinycertain 

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#random blurb nights #connor brashier #connor brashier fanfiction #connor brashier imagine #connor brashier x reader #connor brashier blurb #connor brashier fluff

[zuperbuuworks]

I am not dead, just busy.

Looking back at both my fan-blog and this one, I’m disappointed that Tumblr stopped supporting integration between it and WordPress! Absolutely none of my website posts have been making their way here even though they’re flagged for submission!

I suppose then it’s time I posted an update here, and I’ll probably only do one or two a year, though I strongly advise you either visit my site or follow the Facebook/Twitter pages for more frequent updates should you prefer that.

You can read the update, which covers the past 2/3 years, below the “Keep Reading” dodad below.

BOOKS

Books have been launching every year now, though they aren’t being written as fast as you might be expecting. The first on my list, “Specimen G-13″, is my largest of the written projects and has taken over 5 years just to get part 1 published, then again it’s always hardest when starting something, isn’t it?

You can read a preview from part 1 below (providing the HTML works) or visit the page directly to purchase a copy, in either print or as an ebook.

<iframe type="text/html" width="336" height="550" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen style="max-width:100%" src="https://read.amazon.co.uk/kp/card?asin=B08BK1KFQK&preview=inline&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_c1BFFb69FTVB4" ></iframe>

Part 1 of the trilogy was published on June 20th this year. A prequel, originally written in 2018, was edited again and republished at roughly the same time.

Alongside writing this trilogy, I worked on a large Compendium book; featuring artwork and texts relating to the alien flora and fauna of a world that appears in the Specimen G-13 trilogy, as well as other future books I have planned. This Compendium has been worked on for nearly 3 years now, though some of the creatures designs and backgrounds originate from as far back as 1998 doodles I did!

This massive book is launching on October 31st, and you can pre-order the ebook version now, though I strongly advise the printed edition over that digital one. 

Why? Because the ebook edition doesn’t look anywhere near as awesome; due to limitations (i.e ink-based e-readers) I was unable to apply my fancy “journal-style” background to the ebook edition of the Compendium. So whilst the digital edition is vastly cheaper, you’ll be missing out on how the book was originally meant to be read.

You can view a video preview of the proof sample I received, and what will be fixed in the final version, here: https://youtu.be/mC_8W1VCbM8

Presently, I am writing part 2 of Specimen G-13 and hope to have it ready for publishing by the same time part 1 was released, which is June 20th 2021. Part 3 is expected to launch a year later, but with how large this story has grown over its development it could be a longer wait.

COMICS

Initially I had planned to leave the Subject 218 novels alone after writing them, so that I could write the comic adaptation without any temptation to change the story, but after some long thinking (and rereading of said novels) I chose to push the novels back into a new editing process, and postpone the comic version.

I did, however, still produce the first issue of the comic, which will still be valid even after the changes I make to the novel, as it is stated time and time again that Tim (the main character) is a compulsive liar and what he says in the books is not 100% the truth, whilst what is witnessed in the comics is.

For the time being the Subject 218 comic is on hold. You can still grab a digital copy of Issue 1 here, but it may be several years before I pick up where I left off again.

ARTWORK

All that tasty artwork in the Compendium are the results of 2-3 years worth of painting, drawing and digital crafting. I spent most of 2019 doing marker-pen artwork of flora and fauna, whilst this year has primarily been dedicated to oil painting landscapes and making digital maps.

Folks who use to follow me on deviant-art can (somewhat) rejoice as I have returned to the platform, though my submissions of fan-art are not how they use to be, as I have been dedicating 99% of my time to creating content for my original projects. Many of these projects have been crafted for printing purposes too, so you can grab prints of all my paintings on my redbubble store.

As I only upload finished artwork to deviant-art please expect a gap between uploads. If you’d like to see things like sketches, line-work or doodles then I’d suggest following my twitter.

Now that the bulk of artwork, primarily for the Edris Compendium, is finished I can now focus on getting character art made for my website. Right now the info-page is sparse, but I hope to fill it a fair amount by the end of the year.

OTHER THINGS

I have other projects on the back-burner, but to preserve my mental and physical well-being I have put them on hiatus; the childrens picture book about dinosaurs is on hold, as is the book about my life and dealing with being transgender, and there are a bunch more smaller stories I want to work on but just simply have no time to do.

So, again, sorry for appearing quiet here. I’ve just been ludicrously busy and barely have the energy to manage so many social media accounts! I’m not making any promises to post more on Tumblr, but just know I am still here and silently enjoying myself when I can take the occasional break.

My mental health is a mess and my physical health is poop, but I’m doing fine nonetheless, and I hope you’ll all continue to wear a mask and wash your hands!

#artwork #writing #publishing #painting #drawing #original #author #writer #blog #comic books #booksbooksbooks #prints #fantasy #science fantasy #science fiction #warrior cats #aliens #monsters #creatures #landscapes #bob ross inspired #oil painting #marker pens #traditional art #digital art #literature

[eutaerpe]

venus and mars

pairing — jimin x reader

genre/warnings — fluff, idolverse, boyfriend au, a wild (brat) jungkook appears, sleep deprived maknae line

notes  — hi!!! this is part of a small series of disconnected drabbles/blurbs centered on jimin, who is not my bias wrecker,,.......aha........yeah. unedited so sorry for my mistakes, this was written when i was sleep deprived.......aha......!!! i’ll link in the future the venus and mars moodboard, as tumblr still fucks up posts with links :( hope you like this!!! send me thoughts?? or love? wait no i’m proving a point i’m not jimin ♥︎

summary  — “He’s gone.”

“Good,” you hum contently, “Now you can talk dirty to me.”

“You literally mentioned chocolate bunnies and serial killers earlier, babe.”

“Oooh, yes, more,” you moan playfully, cuddling your pillow. “Park Jimin. Chef kiss. The man you are today.” 

Sometimes releasing an album it’s exhausting.

Jimin knows that.

It’s indefinitely cooler dropping hints to your fans and making them believe it’s a mind-blowing journey where you write lyrics everyday and produce sounds in thirty minutes tops. Like they’ve always been there, like they’ve been in your mind the whole time and you just had to politely ask them to come out and materialize themselves.

Most of the time, it’s just people in a room. Nodding to whatever is happening in their Macs, moving their hands in the air, following a certain rhythm one day thousands of people will know. Sometimes, instead, it’s all quiet, if he’s lucky; there’s only a reigning peace towering the leather couches and armchairs where people are sprawled on.

Right now, the silence’s broken by the small sounds his phone is making. The truth is that he’s gently forcing everyone to listen to his tracks.

He has been holding his phone and earbuds for the past forty-three minutes, crouching on his knees next to the person he needed the approval of. It’s a tad embarrassing, and people mostly thinks he does this in order to fulfil his praise kink, but. They’re not totally wrong.

He just really, desperately needs approval.

“It’s nice,” Namjoon says, and Jimin feels a rush of excitement spreading into his body. Namjoon doesn’t lie. Namjoon likes telling the truth, whether it’s a rushed “I don’t like it, I feel like you could do a lot better” or a warmer “I like this vibe. Keep working on this.”

Getting the members’ approval is one of the moments he shields the most in his heart, along with private, quick moments fans can’t see taking place. There’s a lot of congratulations behind the stage, a lot of hugging that can’t happen because of all the styling and make-up, lots of texts read by the managers out loud, declaring things like “you’ve really outdone yourselves” and “keep that going”, which never fail to make Jimin warm.

Though the hastiness of it all is somewhat frightening. There are people crowding the streets and stadiums and everywhere they go—for them, Jimin thinks, it’s heavier. The tickets fever, waiting outside for hours, shifting their bodies into difficult positions, outside buildings for so long just to see their smiles flashing for thirty seconds.

It’s unnerving.

Fans do so much and they—they jump into their cars, rapidly seeing the fans becoming dots into the distance. In a millisecond. Jimin hates that.

It’s past four am, his rushed recording has gotten almost everyone’s approval – not Jungkook’s, though; the Brat has decided that his work needs more backup vocals and a lot heavier hook, and drums or other weird, loud instruments – and this result alone should be relaxing, or. Exciting, he supposes. This should result in a definitely warmer feeling aimed to push him to work harder, as stuff like this usually does, but this time feels different. This time it’s – nonsense, an unknown frigid state of anxiety that he cannot calm down.

Dorm life feels suffocating now, because Seokjin is in the studio, Namjoon is distantly working to lyrics and Hoseok has disappeared ever since he announced he’d be working for a diverse track, loud and crazy and depictive of their pent-up energy.

Anxious Jimin knows talking helps, but Rational Jimin argues that the only voice he’d want to hear, now, is not available, so what’s the point?

You’re resting.

Aha. What a feeling. What an unconceivable, strange action he was used to when he was younger.

Still, you’re resting. Closing your eyelids for more than thirty-six seconds on a working day. Sleeping.

Like every other normal human being at four am.

He groans, unblocking his phone and instantly drowning in his oversized hoodie, his left hand barely making an appearance in the cold hair.

He shouldn’t, he reckons, but you have always told Jimin he shouldn’t think, and moreover, he shouldn’t listen to his self-destructive thoughts when hungry or sleep-deprived.

So, ding, ding, ding! He excels in non-proper thinking when sleep deprived – and he’s always sleep deprived, so. Ten thousand points to Gryffindor, as Seokjin-hyung would say.

Jungkook mutters a “Gotta pee,” exiting the room and leaving Jimin alone in the living room. You’re not picking up. That’s okay, that’s fine, he should really stop bothering you—

“Hey, Chim,”

It’s the softest voice he has ever heard in his twenty-three years of life. God. You could punch him in the gut, and he’d thank you.

“Is…” – you’re shuffling in bed, and he can picture you passing a hand over your closed eyes – “Is everything okay?”

Jimin licks his lips, feeling his tiredness embracing him. “Yeah, sorry I woke you up…”

“Mhm.” You breathe out. “Nonsense.”

He hears you sitting on your bed, yawning. “Have you showed the others your recording?”, you ask, because you’re perfect like this. Jimin instantly feels guilty for this random night call.

“The hyungs liked it,” he murmurs, voice low, “I’ll show you tomorrow, if you want to?”

“Please. It’s not like I’ve been begging you to for the past week, right?”

“Yeah, that’s the main reason why I’m avoiding you.”

You groan, making him smile. “Don’t joke about it, jerk. We miss you.”

“We?”

“My bed? Me? Mostly the bed, though?”

The idiot snorts. “Cocky, aren’t we?”

But you do love this idiot. “Not joking. I’ve been hearing stuff from these sheets. ‘Been missing your non-existent tattoo.”

“Sounds logic.” Jimin hums, and that’s all you need to hear to know he’s feeling better than seconds ago.

“Babe,” you start, tongue rolling on the back of your mouth, “What I’m about to say is not gonna make a lot of sense because a minute ago I was dreaming about chocolate bunnies and serial killers, but. You know I miss you, right? But then again, you know this, and you know that I love you.”

Jungkook plops on the couch and starts scrolling on what Jimin assumes is his secret twitter account. Stan account, according to the sources. (Taehyung and Seokjin are his sources, thank you very much). When the younger turns around and catches him staring, Jimin all but attempts a smile—promptly cut by the cushion Guk throws him.

Jimin sighs. They grow up so fast.

“I know you. I know that if there’s someone who can go through these hard few days, it’s you and the guys. In a couple weeks you’re going to think about this day and laugh because it sounds like the plot of an indie, overrated movie. You can do it. I know you do.”

He loves you so much he could cry, but he decides against it. Instead, he says: “You’re like my energizer drink, you know?”

To which Jungkook and you both answer with a disinterested, “Ew, disgusting.”

The things your boyfriend says when sleepy. Gosh.

“Why the fuck is noona still dating you?” – Jungkook prorupts loudly enough that you hear, voice painted with curiosity – “You’re weird, hyung.”

“It’s definitely because of your dick—”

“She says I’m a kind soul.”

“—Dicking game’s so good I might forget you just called me a sweetened drink.”

“And buy her expensive stuff.”

Jungkook feigns a shocked face. “So, you’re her sugar daddy? Noona, I have an apartment. For myself.”

“Don’t hit on my girl right in front of me, kid.”

You erupt into a fit of giggles. “Oh my god, when did Guk become so annoying? I love him. Can we adopt him?”

“Too bad,” he says aloud, trying not to smile, “Too bad we’ve already adopted him as our group’s mascot, babe. He’s not an obedient child, though.”

The “Fuck off,” Jungkook sputters is enough for making you laugh so hard he doesn’t have it in himself to stop you because you’re so loud you could wake Tae, asleep on the kitchen counter.

This—this moment right here, is what Jimin loves most about his life. Besides performing and laughing because Jungkook called him a small pepper once again – the audacity – and other vague, members-related facts. You calm him, and love him, and listen to whatever thing he has on his mind.

“He’s gone.”

“Good,” you hum contently, “Now you can talk dirty to me.”

“You literally mentioned chocolate bunnies and serial killers earlier, babe.”

“Oooh, yes, more,” you moan playfully, cuddling your pillow. “Park Jimin. Chef kiss. The man you are today.”

“I can’t believe you just said that out loud.”

“Yeah, me neither. Guess one of us really needs to sleep and, shockingly, that’s not you?”

“I know,” – Jimin assures, closing his eyes – “Pretty sure this is another of your strange dreams, weirdo.”

You’re drifting off, and it’s the cutest thing Jimin has ever witnessed. “Kiss Guk goodnight. And…” a yawn, “Call me again in a couple hours, I really want to know what you’re working on, baby.”

“That can do,” he says, softly. “Love you.”

But he doesn’t hear you saying it back to him.

Only Taehyung muttering a soft “Nobody ever kisses me goodnight.”, half dead, half pouted, which makes Jimin smile like an idiot.

#bts reactions #bts #bts imagines #bts imagine #bts scenario #bts scenarios #jimin #jimin bts #jimin imagine #jimin imagines #jimin scenario #jimin scenarios #fluff bts #bts fluff #jimin fluff #jimin reaction #jimin reactions #jimin fanfic #jimin x reader #jimin x you #bts fake texts

[creativetrashcans]

Simmer - Get To Know

By @cupcakegnome

Tagged: @ talemagne

CHIWAWA

Your name: Lonely Chiwawa (she/her)

Languages you speak: Catalan, Spanish and kinda English 

Are you a mermaid: No not really... can barely swim tbh

Your play style: mmmh i like most things, creating sims, builidng is so much fun too, also challenges mmh stories no tho i cant write em LOL rip 

Your Selfsim picture: 

Stories or gameplay, builds, lookbooks, edits or cc: Challenges, builds and some other things coming heh

Your favorite age state: Teen or young adult

Your favorite season: Winter!!! i feel it has a lot to do and the snow is soooo pretty 

Your favorite holiday: Only played harvest fest so far... in sims BUT irl i like Christmas 

How was your day: It was chill and nice, even went outside wew

Your favorite career: Painter...........................maybe?

Your favorite aspiration: Soulmate

Your favorite EP, SP or GP: Seasons 

How old is your simblr: Less than a year i think 

Have you woohooed: Yes, many times

Your favorite skill: Cooking, parenting and painting

The size of your Mods folder: 37,7 GB

Your 3 favorite mods: uhhhh hahaha impossible to choose

Your interests (other than sims): Drawing, make up and nails, mmh minecraft old anime and series too 

Your favorite sim (picture if possible): Maybe not my favourite Sim of all time because we got so many! But this is our version of Franky form One Piece. Before starting any project just for fun we made him and I always felt so proud of how he turned out. Not only he looks very attractive, i also feel its a good representation of how a human him would look like.

Which Sims games you have played (including mobile games): Sims 2, 3 and 4 

Propose a crazy scheme: People being nice always and world being in peace and not dying in gud old climate change

Best part of simblr: seeing how other people enjoy the sims and how they play also them aesthetic 

Worst part of simblr: mmhhhhhhhh lack of comunication between players i don’t feel much sense of community here at least now... i actually suck at comunicating so..... dunno

What other games you play: Minecarft recently but not much into games actually

Other websites or accounts (origin, twitter etc..):  

Twitter --> https://twitter.com/creativetrashc1

Intagram --> https://www.instagram.com/creativetrashcans/

Personal Instagram --> https://www.instagram.com/elia_clco/

My side tumblr --> https://generationtrashcan.tumblr.com/

Are you single: Nuuuupe

WORM

Your name: Lively Worm (she/her)

Languages you speak: Catalan, Spanish and some English.

Are you a mermaid: Nope, I’m a worm.

Your play style: I love building houses and decorating them, dressing sims and doing their makeup.

Your Selfsim picture:

Stories or gameplay, builds, lookbooks, edits or cc: I do gameplays, challenges and buildings.

Your favorite age state: I think it’s young adult because I can explore more.

Your favorite season: Autumn, because of the beautiful colors.

Your favorite holiday: I don’t know yet, I haven’t explored all of them.

How was your day: It’s 15:40h and I’m hungry, I want to eat soon.

Your favorite career: Musician.

Your favorite aspiration: Musical genius, unsurprisingly.

Your favorite EP, SP or GP: Pets and vampires.

How old is your simblr: Less than a year.

Have you woohooed: ¬_¬

Your favorite skill: I don’t know, maybe the singing skill?

The size of your Mods folder: 29,9 GB.

Your 3 favorite mods: I can’t choose. There are so many so good!

Your interests (other than sims): Singing, drawing, anime, manga and kpop.

Your favorite sim (picture if possible): Why?? I can’t choooooseeee, I love most of them! Okey, after a lot of thought I’ve chosen Una, Usopp’s daughter from our 100 Baby Challenge, because the three of us love her and I love drawing her!! She’s really charming and she’s grown up really well. I relate to her because she also loves drawing and vampires.

We posted some drawings of her on twitter and insta!

Which Sims games you have played (including mobile games): Sims 2, 3 and 4. And some PS game I don’t remember.

Propose a crazy scheme: Making people learn expectatives are bad and judging others hurts everyone involved.

Best part of simblr: I can share our art and tell many stories with interesting sims.

Worst part of simblr: The lack of comunication.

What other games you play: Kingdom Hearts, Hollow Knight, The Last of Us... mostly play station games.

Other websites or accounts (origin, twitter etc..): 

Common Twitter: https://twitter.com/creativetrashc1

Common Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/creativetrashcans/

Personal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/makaru_walker/

Are you single: No, I’m Turtle’s.

TURTLE

Your name: Lazy Turtle (she/her)

Languages you speak: Catalan, Spanish, English and some basic French.

Are you a mermaid: Pretty sure I’m not.

Your play style: Starting projects and never getting past the building process is a playstyle? I usually like to have some objective though, instead of just playing aimlessly.

Your Selfsim picture:

Stories or gameplay, builds, lookbooks, edits or cc: I find stories pretty awkward to portray on Sims, and fashion and decoration were never my strong point. So I stick to challenges, both found and created.

Your favorite age state: Depends on what for. Young adults are the easiest to manage and have more options, but toddlers are the most challenging on a Baby Challenge.

Your favorite season: Autumn, always. Its colors are just beautiful.

Your favorite holiday: Haven’t played them all yet, so I can’t say.

How was your day: (Tumblr erased all my hard work on this thing, but the day I first wrote it I had my blood taken so not great). Today, I discovered the extent of human stupidity in mass hysteria situations. Never seen a supermarket so empty of food before.

Your favorite career: Hypotetically, writer. But I haven’t played as one yet so I can’t confirm.

Your favorite aspiration: Big Happy Family’s been pretty fun for our matriarch, but I still have many more to explore. (I can say it’s not the kid’s mobility one. Stupid mecanography.)

Your favorite EP, SP or GP: Probably Seasons so far.

How old is your simblr: Less than a year.

Have you woohooed: Uh.

Your favorite skill: Uhhh... No idea.

The size of your Mods folder:  29,9 GB. Worm and I share a game and a mods folder, but Chiwawa dumps her messily organized mods on us from time to time.

Your 3 favorite mods: Wow nope.

Your interests (other than sims): Mostly writing and reading (I’m the main writer of this tumblr, btw), but also videogames, anime and k-pop.

Your favorite sim (picture if possible): I wouldn’t say it’s my favourite sim of all time, I have far too many sims I love for different reasons, but this one was specially hard to get right so we feel particularly proud.

His name is Carles Serra, and he’s a parental figure for two of the MCs of the story we’re working on. He’s a math and ethics teacher on a very exclusive highschool, and he needed to have both a very refined and snobbish air and this inevitable awkwardness all math teachers seem to have. Plus, he has to deal with teenage drama all through the story, so I feel like he needs a lot of love. And maybe some vacation.

Which Sims games you have played (including mobile games): Sims 2, 3 and 4. And I think I once tried to make a sim on a terrible PS2 version or something.

Propose a crazy scheme: Mandatory therapy for teens so everyone learns empathy and management of one’s emotions would be pretty neat.

Best part of simblr: Sharing our common passion with others in a free and creative way, probably.

Worst part of simblr: The lack of interaction, I guess. I had only ever been in a very small fandom here on tumblr before, and compared to the closeness of that comunity, I feel like simblr is... very scattered.

What other games you play: Play Station ones, mostly. Whatever gives me a compelling story.

Other websites or accounts (origin, twitter etc..):

Common Twitter: https://twitter.com/creativetrashc1

Common Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/creativetrashcans/

Personal Twitter: https://twitter.com/ALazyTurtle1

Are you single: I’ve been dating Worm for years now.

We will tag: @hellobreadsims

#sims #sims 4 #new simblr #franky #op franky #one piece #one piece franky #oc #original character #100 baby challenge #selfsim #sims tag #get to know tag

[yukipri]

So I’m back from the dead (literally). A Goodbye Message.

Hey there. Some of you may remember me.

Some of you may have wondered why I suddenly stopped posting, but the vast majority of you probably didn’t even notice, as is how it is. ^ ^;

I’m finally back, and it wasn’t an easy journey getting back.

Here’s what happened.

(Slightly long post, but please forgive me for not putting it under a cut, it’s sorta important)

On November 19th, I checked my blog as I always do, to learn that my blog was terminated.

No warning, no reason, suddenly BOOM gone. I’ve had this blog since spring 2012. It’s almost entirely sfw, I’ve always been hyper careful with tagging, and any questionable content has always been hosted on other platforms. Yet for some reason, I was one of many blogs caught up in what’s come to be known as the #TumblrPurge.

I followed all the steps. I emailed staff, first desperately, then more rationally, making my case. I figured that a bot had caught my blog, as I knew plenty of other more suspicious content blogs that were unharmed. At first there was hope, it’s just a glitch, it’s happening to a lot of people, they’ll give it back right away, some people have already gotten theirs back!

Nothing.

My methods of contacting followers were limited to my Patreon and Twitter, neither of which has much of a base. Followers who knew me on there were incredibly kind and supportive, and sometimes even reached out to staff on my behalf.

I didn’t want to spam, but I also was desperate. I emailed staff once a week. I tried using different categories. I tried adding attachments. My messages ranged from simple and succinct, to deeply personal and desperate.

I was honestly devastated. I spiraled into the worst depression I’ve ever been in. I could barely eat and vomited nonstop for a week. I gained 20 pounds in 2 weeks. I was completely out of control mentally, and even reached out to a psychiatrist friend in case I couldn’t handle it myself. I couldn’t draw, and thinking about projects that I once loved only hurt me more.

Talk about social media addiction, but I’ve legit never gone longer than a week without posting something for years, and especially since becoming a content creator, it felt sickening to not have the place where I drove myself to post constantly and consistently. It broke my schedule. It made me feel cut off from the world, and I felt claustrophobic and uncomfortable in my own skin.

I lost so many things with this blog. Yes, I was primarily a content creator, and while of course I had backups of all my art and some of my longer text posts, I lost so much more.

I lost, perhaps most importantly, all my interactions with my followers. I lost connections to so many people, people I hadn’t contacted in years and may not have even been active anymore, but who I always believed I would have this route back to. I lost memories, both online and of my personal life that I had recorded on here.

And as someone who unfortunately put so much of my identity and self-validation on my social media experience, I suddenly felt like I was absolutely nothing.

For the longest time, I thought I was su*cidal as a result of my depression (word bleeped out bc who knows what can get you flagged now). I certainly thought about death and dying daily.

But then, I realized what I was feeling wasn’t quite that. I didn’t feel like I wanted to die.

I felt like I was already dead.

Which, may sound like an exaggeration, but in terms of tumblr at least, it’s exactly the same. If I had died in rl, I would have dropped off the map, just like this. Suddenly stopped posting, no warning in advance. My blog may have existed, but in this case, no record of my existence even remained. To people who came looking for my url, I may as well have been dead. You wouldn’t have known any better.

Or who knows, maybe I was a criminal or had done something awful that resulted in my blog being removed. Maybe I had just had it with this site and had chosen to leave. Maybe I was just taking a much needed break. It would have been odd, since I prioritized communicating and always said when I needed a break, which was rarely ever. But either way, I had no way of telling any of you what had happened to me. My voice was gone.

Feeling like I was dead, after I recognized what I was feeling, was...disturbing, I guess. Kinda explained why I always felt like a corpse though.

(of course, feeling like I was dead contributed to thinking other things like maybe it’d be better if I really wasn’t around at all, but that’s a result, and not the main feeling.)

Anyway, I kept emailing staff, and I finally managed to come back. It took ten emails and over 2 months of waiting and wasting away and trying to come to terms with how I’m unlikely to get it back. I didn’t get my blog back until TODAY.

Now that I have come back, the landscape’s changed, as I had heard it had. They hadn’t even announced the adu*t content policy change when they terminated me. I honestly feel like I’m back in a world that’s moved on without me, and it’s made me feel very strongly how insignificant I was in the first place.

During my time being dead, I had a lot of time to think about what I wanted to do. I regretted not doing my 25K follower giveaway sooner. I regretted not getting this or that content out. I regretted having kept certain long text posts and ask responses in my drafts yet unpublished.

But more than anything, I regretted not being able to say goodbye, and thank you all for my time here.

Yes, it’s had ups and downs, but tumblr was where I first found myself as an artist. Tumblr was what first made me interact with and find a group of people interested in what I created. Tumblr was where I was able to interact with those people, you. And I know I’ve had my ups and downs too, and different fandoms and different moods, but I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for letting me be a part of your experience here, however big or small that experience may have been.

I also learned the dangers of immersing myself too deeply on one online platform. So much of myself had been poured into this one blog, this one blog that can disappear with a legit snap of staff’s fingers. (my twitter handle was “Got Thanos’d on Tumblr” for a good month lol) I used to think that’s what made my content valuable, that I poured so much love and thought and everything personal into it, that’s what made it special, but in the end oh so very damaging when it was ripped away. As someone who spent almost all my time online creating content, it was an awful reality pill I had to swallow, and I don’t want ANYONE experiencing the same thing I did.

So please. The takeaway here, if I can be a cautionary tale, is to be aware that an online identity is more unstable than you think it is. It can go POOF. I’m lucky to be here, and that staff finally responded, and that I had the masochism to continue emailing staff weekly no matter how much I felt like I should stop breathing afterwards.

Also, please, if you have people on this site you care about, whether it be a friend or someone you think is neat, anyone you will miss if they suddenly disappeared, please go connect with them in other places beyond this site, which may become increasingly unstable. This can be another social media if they have it, an email, a chatting platform, anything. Even if you personally don’t use it yet, create an account so you can find them when you can no longer access your account, or they can’t access theirs and they can find you. Don’t regret it like I did.

As for me, after all of this, I don’t know if I can post content on here again.

I’d gone well beyond hoping for another chance at this community. All I’ve been thinking about these past two months was how I would have wanted to say goodbye.

Now that I have my account back, I’m currently filled with more numbness and bitterness than any joy or relief. I don’t know if I can create content anymore for a platform that has hurt me so deeply, no matter how much its community means to me. This experience changed me, and I’ve taken damage that isn’t going to go away so easily.

As I think about what to do moving forward, for now, you can find me on my accounts that I WAS active on these past two months. They aren’t the same, but they were all I had.

If you read this message until the end, thank you.

Again, I might decide to post on here again. I might not. But for now, here’s again what I’ve been wanting to say for two months:

Thank you, Tumblr. And goodbye.

-Kazu

(yukipri.tumblr.com)

https://twitter.com/YukiPri_Art

https://www.patreon.com/YukiPri

#personal #TumblrPurge #longpost #long post #yukipri #I didn't stop posting because I wanted to ^ ^; #i had posts in my drafts waiting to be queued for the day i got terminated #it feels so long ago now though and i feel so detached #Also kinda random but i was feeling like this really weird affinity with ghosts #i kept coming up with dead people AUs AHAHAHHAHAHA #like currently I'm super into Banana Fish right #and pre-termination I was all about everyone lives happy AUs #post termination suddenly I was a lot more interested in people staying dead but like lingering around and having regrets #it felt a lot more relatable all of a sudden AHAHAHAHA

[metaphorical-love-for-a-car]

Marry You-- Joe Mazzello x Reader

Request; “How about a joe mazzello based on the song marry you by Bruno  Mars? Idk” ( @hi-i-dont-know )

Warnings; some language, the song is fem! specific but the story itself isn’t

Word Count; 1.8k

Notes; sorry it's taken me so long to get around to this lol

You couldn’t believe it. You had worked so hard for so long, and you finally did it. Here you were, standing on a stage, accepting an award at a prestigious ceremony. People were clapping, and cameras were everywhere. Never in a million years did you expect this to happen. 

You stuttered through your acceptance speech before scurrying back to your seat. The rest of the awards ceremony seemed to go by in a haze as you continued to try to wrap your mind around the evening. You were in desperate need of a drink, and the after party couldn’t come soon enough.

Dozens of people came up to congratulate you, and you only recognized about half of them. You quickly gulped down your drinks in an attempt to make yourself calm down. It wasn’t the wisest idea, but it was all you could do besides leaving the party, which you obviously didn’t want to do. You were tipsy, borderline drunk, and still feeling overwhelmed. That’s when he decided to approach you. The last thing you needed was your childhood celebrity crush to show up, but that’s exactly what happened.

Your first introduction to Joe Mazzello was when you watched Radio Flyer shortly after it came out, then you saw him again in Jurassic Park. Your younger self thought he was cute, thus your childhood crush formed. As years went on and the two of you started to become more successful in the world of entertainment, you had met each other once or twice, but it was always in passing. Neither of you really spoke to each other much. The most interaction the two of you had was via social media, occasionally liking each other’s posts. 

Needless to say, you were worried about embarrassing yourself because you had too much alcohol in your system for your mind to properly function, and it didn’t help that you continued to drink. “I’m sure you’re going to be sick of hearing this by the end of the night, but congratulations!” Joe flashed you a bright smile. You laughed before thanking him. “Mind if I sit?” He nodded his head towards the empty stool next to yours. You shook your head.

“No, not at all!” Joe sat, and the two of you chatted about basic stuff, like ‘Have you tried the shrimp? It’s pretty good!’ or ‘I’ve been going ninety-to-nothing tonight and can’t wait to finally get home.’ You normally felt awkward during small talk, but this was nice. Maybe it was just the alcohol that was making this feel so comfortable. Maybe it was just his charming personality. Either way, you didn’t care. You were enjoying it. 

“Hope I’m not bothering you. I’m sure a ton of other people would like to talk to you.” You scoffed at Joe’s comment and dramatically rolled your eyes.

“Oh, please! I’m having way more fun talking to you than I would have if I were talking to some of them. Besides, it’s not every day that you get to hang out with your age-old celebrity crush.” You brought your glass to your lips and froze. Did you seriously just say that out loud? No, surely not. You weren’t that drunk, right? You slowly lowered the glass, glancing over at Joe. Shit. You did say it out loud. His mouth was open, looking shocked. And his cheeks were red. 

“You... wait. I’m your celebrity crush?” You felt the heat rising to your face and nodded. He ran a hand through his hair. “No fucking way. This is crazy. You’ve been my celebrity crush since we first met at that movie premiere a few years ago,” Joe said enthusiastically, very much resembling a child telling their friends about the cool toy they got for Christmas. You covered your mouth in an attempt to stifle your laughter. Joe’s brows knitted together, but his goofy grin remained. “I’m serious!” 

“This is too good to be true. It sounds like something out of a fanfiction book on Wattpad or Tumblr.” Joe laughed, stating his agreement. He suddenly grabbed your hand. His eyes were wide and mischief danced across his features.

“I’ve got an awesome idea, and it’ll really make life like a fanfic.” You pursed your lips, eyeing him suspiciously.

“What’re you planning, Joe?” 

“It’s a surprise! Now, where’s the closest Walmart?”

Who cares if we're trashed Got a pocket full of cash we can blow Shots of Patron And it's on girl

The two of you managed to find an Uber at the ungodly hour of the morning it was. People gave you odd looks when you first walked into the store. Some because they recognized the two of you, and some because you were both in incredibly formal attire... while drunk shopping in Walmart. You headed straight towards the candy, and Joe disappeared. As you were paying for the mountain of candy in your arms, you felt someone tap on your shoulder. It was Joe, nervously shifting his weight from one foot to the other. “You okay?” you snickered, grabbing the plastic bag from the worker before thanking her. 

'Cause it's a beautiful night, we're looking for something dumb to do Hey baby, I think I wanna marry you Is it the look in your eyes or is it this dancing juice Who cares baby, I think I wanna marry you

“Actually, there’s something important I want to ask you.” You raised a brow at him, and he took a deep breath. When Joe got down on one knee, your jaw dropped. He pulled out a ring that had a little silver frog on top, its back made of a green gem. “Let’s continue with the fanfiction themed night, shall we?” You laughed, nodding. Joe beamed up at you and slid the ring onto your finger.

“Is this actually happening right now?” you asked in between laughs. Joe shrugged. 

“Dunno. That sounds like something for our sober selves to figure out. Wanna check out the Redbox movies?”

I'll go get a ring Let the choir bell sing like ooh So what you wanna do Let's just run girl If we wake up and you want to break up That's cool No, I won't blame you It was fun girl

Your head was pounding. Bringing a hand to your face, you rubbed your eyes before squinting them open. How much did you drink last night? You could hardly remember a thing... that is until you realized you weren’t in your hotel room, nor were you alone. An arm was wrapped around your waist, and the person’s head was nuzzled against your back. Fucking shit. Your mind was reeling, trying to remember what had happened. A part of your mind tried to rationalize that maybe you didn’t hook up with someone. After all, you were still dressed. Then again... the sweats and baggy shirt didn’t belong to you. 

You were worried about waking whoever was beside you. You were desperate to avoid any awkward and embarrassing interactions. Slowly reaching out, you went to pull your phone off of the bedside table. That’s when you noticed the ring. Your breath got caught in your throat as a sudden sense of urgency flooded your system. You tried to turn your phone on, but a black screen stared back at you. Of course, it was dead. Well, there was only one thing you could do. You started peeling yourself from the person’s grasp. As you did, the person stirred. When you were finally able to turn and look at them, it felt like someone dumped a bucket of rocks into your stomach. “Damn... my head’s killin’ me,” Joe groaned while rubbing his face. Your mouth open and closed. You couldn’t think of anything to say. Joe removed his hands, finally meeting your gaze. His eyes widened. “Oh my god...” was all the could muster up.

“Joe, what the hell happened last night?” You showed him your hand, and his face reddened. 

“Well... I-- uh-- don’t remember much. I don’t think we had sex, but I don’t know about that.” He pointed at the ring. Joe quickly sat up, snatching his phone from the floor. Thankfully, it had been charging. 

He had multiple missed calls and unopened text messages from his friends, most of which said something along the lines of ‘Joe, what the hell is going on? Is this real?’ Joe swiped through his camera roll, but most of the pictures were goofy selfies or short videos of the two of you wandering around Walmart. It didn’t really offer much information. You suggested looking through your social media accounts. Lo and behold, it was the jackpot. Your twitter was filled with cringe-worthy levels of cheesy and sappy pickup lines, all of which had Joe tagged in them. He responded to a few, but his replies only consisted of various heart emojis. Joe’s Instagram story had dozens of photos and videos of you two, most of which you had already seen in his camera roll. Then there was one post that had the caption ‘I liked it so I put a ring on it (guess we’re engaged now)’, and you had commented ‘#couplegoals’. You decided to take a look into your own Instagram account, clicking through the story photos you remembered posting. When it finally got to something new, you couldn’t help the butterflies that formed in your chest. 

It was a video of Joe, laying in bed next to you. Your head was on his chest, and you had an arm draped across his torso. You were out cold, and Joe had a soft smile on his face. “(Y/N) fell asleep in the middle of our Night At The Museum marathon, so I decided to hack their insta.” He glanced down at you, his smile growing even wider. “They’re so adorable, even when they’re snoring like a freight train. But don’t let them know that I told you guys that,” he said the last part with a serious expression. Joe pressed a kiss to the top of your head, then the video ended.

“So I guess we got engaged,” you mumbled, examining the little frog ring on your finger. “We know that much happened.”

“What now?” Joe asked, his voice barely above a whisper. You glanced at him, and he was idly tracing a pattern into the bed’s comforter. 

“Well, first, I think we should get some breakfast. I don’t know about you, but I’m starving. Then maybe we could start with a date and see how that goes?” Joe looked up, meeting your gaze. A smile spread across his lips.

“I like that plan.”

Don't say no no no no no Just say yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah And we'll go go go go go If you're ready, like I'm ready

Just say I do Tell me right now baby Tell me right now baby, baby Just say I do Tell me right now baby Tell me right now baby, baby

Tag List;

@mothermercuryy @mmmmmitslikeadiseaseson

#request #joe mazzello #joe mazello x reader #joe mazzello imagine #bohemian rhapsody #bohemian rhapsody x reader

[eryiss]

Oneshot: The Life of His Deskmate

Summary: Laxus Dreyar: Reporter for Fairy Tail and member of an elite group of investigative journalists: The Raijinshuu. When trying to get evidence to bring down a criminal family, he finds himself at the wrong end of a gun and is saved by someone he didn’t believe existed. A vigilante who is closer to Laxus than he could ever imagine. His deskmate: Freed Justine. [Fraxus Oneshot | 22.6K Words]

This story was inspired by the tumblr user @aphtoris, who was very kind to let me write this based off their post. Please check out their blog for some other headcanons and ideas, both for Fairy Tail and some other fanbases you might know.

You can read it on Fanfiction, Archive of our Own, or under the cut. I hope you all enjoy it!

The Life of His Deskmate

Friday, July 19th, 2019, Late Night

The first time Laxus laid eyes on Magnolia's supposed superhero, he had been somewhat spectacle of his existence. He had heard the rumours – everybody had – but nobody could get a good picture or even give a consistent description, so it was hard to see the story as anything other than, well, a story.

It becomes harder to deny a stories existence when confronted with it face to face, though.

Their meeting occurred by happenstance. Being an investigative reporter forced Laxus into situations that could put him at risk, something he had long since accepted. He and his team – named the Raijinshuu to only themselves – had become known for publishing scathing exposés that revealed the illegal activities of important people and companies throughout the company. Doing this meant that, from time to time, they needed to put themselves in a very real firing line. This was one such time.

They had received multiple anonymous tips against the Oración Seis family. Weapons dealing, high levels of drug trafficking, and god knows what else. He and his team had almost got enough to create a full story but knew that the family had enough influence in the city to refute any claims against them without irrefutable evidence being shown. Evidence that Laxus needed to get.

He hadn't made his findings known to anyone other than his team, meaning it was practically impossible for members of the family to know he was looking into them. Or that he existed at all; they all seemed to have the 'it won't happen to me' arrogance.

This gave Laxus the ability to sit in the same bar as one of the family members – Racer – without being noticed. Laxus wouldn't say that the man was the weak link in the family, but he was the most easily riled up and quick to run his mouth. Any time the family had gotten in trouble before, it was usually because he had let something out after spewing a stream of bullshit and something serious had snuck its way in. Nothing overly serious before, maybe something a little controversial, but their illegal activities were never revealed.

This was something Laxus intended to change. He hoped that he could watch the guy plough himself with alcohol, introduce himself and create a drunken bond, and then subtly probe him until he revealed something important. It wasn't the most moral kind of journalism, admittedly, but illegal weapon dealings weren't moral either. Laxus wouldn't lose sleep.

"Another vodka, darling," Laxus heard Racer demand of the obviously annoyed bartender.

The blonde wasn't yet ready to strike yet. It was barely eleven and, after snooping on the man's Twitter account for half an hour, it was obvious that he was the type of guy that would stay until the early hours of the morning drinking. Logic dictates that the longer the drinks, the drunker he gets and the more likely it'll be for him to reveal something. All Laxus needed to do was wait.

As he did so, he heard the small nagging doubt playing in the back of his mind. The voice that told him maybe setting a trap for a known affiliate of an arm dealer and criminal organisation wasn't smart. That he would have a weapon, and this could all go bad very quick. He shut that voice out.

In his work, Laxus was insistent that he did the best he possibly could. At the start, this was because he felt that he hadn't earned his position at the newspaper, as his grandfather owned the company and really had given him the job. Once he felt he had got his place deservedly, he felt a sense of obligation to continue doing the work. There was a lot of shit happening and not many people could find out who was doing it and to what extent. Laxus could, so he should.

God, that sounded so patronising every time he thought about it. The whole 'greater good' thing didn't completely suit him.

Still, that was why he was there. It was plainly obvious that this family were knowingly breaking the law in a way that could and did kill people, and Laxus needed to let people know. They could only publish this once and if the Oración Seis found a loophole, their work would be made useless. That was why he was in the damn bar, ignoring the voice that told him there was a better way to do this.

A voice that sounded like his damn photographer, Freed.

The cautiousness that Freed was taking with this story was unusual. Freed hadn't been scared of anything they'd tackled since being partnered together – and if he had, he hid it damn well. But recently, he was advising Laxus, Bickslow and Evergreen to be more cautious.

In fact, he'd been acting different for a little while now. His punctuality had slipped, not to the extent that he could be in trouble, but seeing the man come late three times in a week when it hadn't happened before was an odd occurrence. Laxus had wanted to broach the topic with his friend a few times, but had always been distracted by the story. Still, he was probably seeing an issue where there wasn't one; being a journalist made you more inclined to pessimism and distrust. More so when Laxus had started to consider maybe changing his relationship with Freed to something more-

Shit.

Having let his eyes stray from Racer's place at the bar, he only just managed to see him walking towards the door to the establishment. Laxus allowed his eyebrows to tighten slightly; from what he knew of the man, on his nights out he would pick a bar, drain it of all its vodka and call it a night. That certainly wouldn't happen this early in the night.

Before moving, Laxus let his eyes stray to the table the man had just left. He had been the only one who had left, meaning the group itself hadn't become tired of this bar and wanted to leave, and Racer constantly boasted about being the life of the party on his social media. So him leaving the group went against everything that he had found out about the man. Perhaps against his better judgement, Laxus stood up from the table he sat at, placed down the glass of scotch he had been nursing, and walked towards the exit of the bar.

After leaving, he looked down the semi-crowded streets of Magnolia. It took him a few moments of looking over the heads of people to find his target; no member of the Oración Seis could blend into a crowd, thankfully. He watched as Racer turned into an alley, and the blonde found his curiosity peak.

He quickly pushed his way though the crowds and towards the alleyway that Racer had retreated into. When he turned the corner, he saw that Racer was leaning against a wall, having walked past a dumpster and seemingly on his phone. Laxus approached slowly, unable to deny he was enjoying this.

'Come on, bastard.' Laxus thought to himself as he pulled out his voice recorder. 'Give me something.'

Crouching behind the dumpster, Laxus tried to remain as invisible as possible. He couldn't hear what he was saying, and even if his recorder could pick it up, Laxus needed to know now so that he could know if he had enough that he could leave. Against all hygienic logic, he leant forward and rested his head against the dumpster, he could just make out what he was saying.

"Yeah, I'll be there on time," He sounded annoyed. "Just trust me for once, fucks sake Cobra."

Laxus' eyes widened a little. Cobra was the name of one of his brothers, and the tone in which he was speaking sounded suggested that, whatever they're talking about, it was something important. The fact he needed to go into some crappy, unoccupied alleyway to have this conversation made it seem even more suspicious.

Racer shifted his position slightly, making it harder to Laxus to hear him again. The blonde shifted his position again, in an attempt to counter it. His eyes widened slightly as he felt his foot come into contact with something. The clanking of a bottle against concreate came seconds after.

Fuck.

A moment of silence occurred, and Laxus winced in anticipation, willing Racer to continue talking. That didn't happen, however, and a moment later the metal dumpster was shoved towards him, hitting him directly on the head with a large amount of force. Laxus was pushed back and let out a small exclamation of pain, fully giving out his position to the criminal who shared the alleyway with him.

The moment he heard footsteps nearing him, he slid the recorder into his back pocket. He needed to record this and, if Racer saw that he had a recorder, he would either destroy it or make sure not to say anything incriminating. This could be his last chance to get these bastard, he couldn't fuck it up.

But the second he saw Racer, his priorities changed completely. He was holding a gun, aiming it directly at Laxus, and the sneer on his face told Laxus that it wasn't just for show. The blonde felt his breath hitch slightly. Sure, he had been in dangerous situations before, but never had he had a gun pointed at him by a dangerous man who would almost defiantly pull the trigger if even slightly antagonised.

"Up," Racer demanded, his voice stern. "Now."

Laxus did as he was told, standing slowly and placing his hands in the air. He tried not to be annoyed by the smirk on the bastards face, and kept his own expressions neutral. The fact he hadn't been shot yet meant there was a chance of him getting out of this unscathed. He just needed to be careful.

"Walk," Racer said, motioning to where he had just been standing with his head. Laxus slowly did so, knowing that Racer was doing this so no random passer-by could see the gun.

The moment Laxus was standing with his back against the wall, his lower half covered by the dumpster, Jet stood close and pushed the gun into his stomach. Laxus tensed as he felt the weapon pressing against him, though managed to keep eye contact with the man holding him there. He needed to fund a way out of this, but Racer seemed to be somewhat of a professional at this. Still, some kind of an opening would present itself, he just needed to wait until that happened.

"Empty your pockets," Racer pushed the gun further against Laxus' stomach. The blonde moved slowly, removing his keys, wallet and phone from his front pocket. They were all tossed to the side without much care. "Don't fuck me around, blondie. Whatever the hell was in your back pocket, give it to me."

So he had seen it, fuck. Laxus slowly pulled the recorder out from his back pocket and handed it to Racer, who actually fucking laughed. Instead of tossing it to the side like he had with everything else, he dropped it in front of them both. He pushed the gun against Laxus further and grinned. He then raised his foot and crushed the device completely.

"Whoops," He spoke with arrogance. "How clumsy of me."

Laxus noticed that, as he bragged, the pushing of the gun against his stomach became looser. He glanced down for a second to see that his finger wasn't resting against the trigger anymore. This could be the only opening he got.

He quickly pushed forward, shocking the man enough for Laxus to barge his shoulder into his chest. Getting the gun away from Racer was the main priority, so he grabbed the man's wrist while slamming his back against the man's torso, pushing back and haphazardly pinning him against the wall of the alley. He tried to pry the gun from the man's hand, but the bastard seemed to had a grip of steel.

Knowing that it wouldn't be long until Racer managed to catch up in the fight, Laxus started to slam his elbow into the other man's stomach repeatedly, still holding the man's wrist so that at least he couldn't aim the weapon.

During the inelegant wrestling, Laxus was unaware that Racer had managed to place his finger onto the trigger of the gun again. He pulled it without care for where it was aiming, and the deafeningly loud ringing sound filled the alleyway and made Laxus stumble slightly; fuck that was so much louder than he could have expected. Racer seemed shocked by this too, as his grip on the weapon loosened slightly. The blonde lurched forward and grabbed it, prying the mans hands off it and tossing it into the dumpster; if Racer attempted to get it back, he would have to leave himself vulnerable while doing so.

Now without the weapon being part of the fight, Laxus was given the ability to step back and catch his breath. He raised his fists in a somewhat defensive position. He didn't get into fights often and wouldn't consider himself an expert, but Racer shouldn't be difficult to overpower now.

"Ain't as big without the gun, huh?" Laxus grinned a little.

"You think you can push me around," Racer snarled, face angered at the removal of his weapon. "I will fucking ruin you if you so much as touch me."

Perhaps running on adrenaline and being blinded to good sense, but the threat fell on deaf ears. Laxus launched himself forward and planted his fist into the man's cheek, the feeling of his knuckles against jawbone both satisfying and painful. Perhaps the punch was somewhat therapeutic, given his in-depth knowledge on practically all the horrendous things that this family had done or had been directly responsible for.

He went to send another punch flying through the air, but found his arm restrained part way through the attack. He looked around to see a large man had grabbed him, one of the same men that had been sitting with Racer. Either the length of the wait or the gunshot must have alerted his group to what was happening.

Before Laxus could react further, another arm wrapped around him in restraint. He tried to pull against it but the grip was harsh and unwavering, leaving him no wiggle room to escape. He looked towards Racer to see that he was smugly walking towards him. Bastard.

"Knife," The criminal demanded to one of his underlings. "Now."

Although he couldn't see it, Laxus assumed that one of the group had pulled out a knife that he had concealed on his person, and handed it to Racer. Laxus looked up to see that, indeed, Racer had taken a knife and was now brandishing it. The knife was nasty looking too, serrated and bouncing back the blight from the nearby streetlamp. The expression on Racer's face told Laxus that he was no longer willing to show mercy. He should have run while he had the chance.

"I assume you're a reporter," Racer said as he walked forward, resting the tip of the knife against his finger and twirling it. "I wonder if your colleagues will find it hard. Writing about your death, I mean. It'll make quite the story for your company."

With every step, Laxus found his heartbeat increase and his fear get larger. Now with what he estimated was four people holding him back, and an aggressive criminal advancing on him, the blonde realised that he should have listened to the voice in his head, and Freed earlier in the day, and should have thought about other ways to get the confession. Not that regret was doing much to help him.

"It's a shame you had to sacrifice yourself for it to happen," Racer taunted, grabbing the knife properly now. "Don't worry, I'll make it fa-"

Racer's words were cut off without warning, a rush of darkness seemingly streaming down from above and landing directly onto the criminal. Laxus watched with furrowed eyebrows as he saw that a man had landed onto Racer from above, assumedly having jumped from one of the buildings. There was silence for a moment as both Laxus and the criminals tried to assess what had actually just happened to the leader of the group.

Now standing before them was the supposed vigilante of Magnolia. Wearing a long, deep red coat and black mask, with vibrant green and black hair raised slightly. He was taller than most, sporting an obviously athletic physique and what seemed to be a well-crafted, perhaps handsome jawline; Laxus assumed that the rest of the man's face would be the same. Though his eyes were covered, his expression was obviously stern and serious, and Laxus found solace in this.

He had been saved. By someone who, until this point, he had surmised as a myth.

The vigilante didn't pay any attention to either Laxus nor the men holding him, probably seeing Racer as the main threat. He brought his hand to the criminals neck, and Laxus could do nothing but watch as the very same hand mutated, became covered in thick oily fur and adorned claws. He lifted Racer off the ground with this new claw, growled at him wordlessly and threw him to the side.

This action was seemingly enough to snap the men holding him out of their trance. Two sets of hands left him and two men walked towards the masked man. He turned to them, face still enigmatic, and brought his hands to a fighting position. Only one of his hands had changed form, it seemed.

While Laxus' fight with Racer had been sloppy and born from necessity, the hero's movements were fluid, smooth and almost elegant. They were too fast for Laxus to see anything with full certainty, but he could see the hero juggling the fight with both men with apparent ease, as if the fight had been choreographed in advance and they were all executing some violent dance that they all knew by heart. It was practically hypnotic.

After being pushed back into the wall by the hero, one of Racer's men pulled out a similar knife from a pocket and charged towards the vigilante. Seeing this, the hero raised his untransformed hand and placed it onto the man's chest. Laxus watched as the hero's eyes glowered purple for a moment and shapes formed on the criminal's chest. A moment later, the man began to roar in pain and scratch the shapes on his chest, as if desperately trying to peel them off of his body. Laxus watched with wide eyes, not sure what was happening.

With one of the two attacking men now seemingly incapacitated, the hero turned his attention to the other. He grabbed him by the scruff of his collar, now using his demonic hand, and raised him into the air. He slammed him down hard, his head hitting the side of the dumpster with a nauseating clank.

"Racer," A voice yelled from behind Laxus.

The blonde felt the remaining hands that restrained him disappear. He looked over his shoulder to see the two unharmed men run towards their boss, help him up and run to a car that had parked with the doors open beside the alleyway. The scrambled into the vehicle quickly, the tires screeching on the road the moment the door was closed, the men quickly driving off into the distance. Laxus found himself relaxing slightly, looking towards the vigilante as he caught his breath.

"Shit," He heard the vigilante mutter. His voice was slightly echoed and distorted, as if he had changed his voice on a computer.

He looked over his shoulder towards the two men that had attacked him. One was staggering to his feet, blood dripping from his head where it had hit the dumpster; shit, Laxus only just realised the man's skull had dented the damn metal. The other man had fallen to his knees, now screaming.

The vigilante raised his untransformed hands, and his eyes glowed purple again. Walls of the same shape-like letters occurred, this time forming completely around the two men. They seemed to create a translucent wall around them, a theory which was confirmed when bleeding man tried to charge at the hero with his knife but was stopped by the glowing letters. Laxus wordlessly watched as the hero raised a finger to his ear and started to speak.

"Sixty-eight street alleyway. Two men. Both contained, one concussed. Also a witness, he may be shaken up. Be quick." The hero spoke, assumedly into an earpiece.

Laxus watched as the hero started to walk down the alleyway, towards where the car had sped off from. He looked down at the tire tracks that had formed, only to see them disappear a little way down the road. The car itself had also gone, leaving no sign as to where they had ended up. The vigilante looked towards Laxus.

"The police are coming; they'll want a statement. Stay until they dismiss you," He demanded of Laxus, who finally found it in himself to speak.

"Sure. Erm, thanks for, well… thanks," He blundered slightly, looking at the man.

The transformation had gone now, and Laxus was afforded a better look at the man. The mask, though doing a shockingly good job at making him unidentifiable, showed clearly that he had chiselled facial features. He sweated slightly, though his pale skin wasn't overly reddened by the activity. His left eye glowed purple slightly and he seemed to be analysing him. All in all, he was pretty good looking.

"The leader of that group is an influential criminal," The hero said, walking back into the alley. Laxus couldn't help but follow him. "You shouldn't have attacked him. He would have killed you without me being there."

"Yeah, I know," Laxus muttered slightly. "I didn't wanna attack him. Bastard pulled a gun on me after he found me recording him. Trying to get him to confess on tape."

"So you knew he was dangerous, and you thought it was wise to follow him into a secluded alley unarmed and in the middle of the night," The hero asked as he placed his hand on the wall he had created. The letters on the roaring man's chest disappeared. "To know that much about him, you must be smart. Why do something so remarkably stupid?"

"'Cause if I got a confession, I could publish and stop their bullshit," Laxus explained, looking at the two contained men with confusion.

"I suppose that's justifiable," The vigilante sighed. "Don't make a habit of it, Mr Dreyar."

Laxus nodded, but stopped himself half way. He frowned and looked towards the hero as he walked down the alley. "How do you know my name?"

The vigilante didn't stop walking, but he did look over his shoulder with what seemed to be a smile on his face. "I'm an avid reader of your work, Mr Dreyar. I'm sure I'll enjoy your story on the Oración Seis when it's done. If you make sure you live long enough to publish it, of course."

The blonde could do nothing as the man before him disintegrated into the same lettering that contained the two criminals. Almost the exact moment the man was gone, a police car stopped at the end of the alley again and two police officers left the vehicle, looking towards the contained men and then Laxus himself. As they approached him, Laxus finally caught up with the reality of what just happened, and only one word could surmise his feelings.

"Fuck."

-~~~-

Saturday July 20th, 2019, Mid Morning.

Freed walked into the lobby of Fairy Tail News with a thermos of coffee in one hand, and a half eaten bagel in the other. He awkwardly placed his pass against the scanning pad that granted his access further than the reception desk, and took another bite of his breakfast, fighting back a yawn as he waited at the elevator with a few colleagues he couldn't identify by name; the Raijinshuu often kept to themselves in work.

As he stepped into the thankfully uncrowded elevator, he leant against the cool metal and willed it to wake him up somewhat. Though he had good reason to be tired, he would rather it not affect his productivity in the work that actually allowed him money.

In reality, his new found pseudo-occupation as vigilante hadn't affected his body clock all too dramatically. Whereas previously he had retired for the night around one in the morning most of the time, he now slept at four. He would now wake up at eight and rush his morning routine to get to work at nine, whereas previously he would wake at six and slowly make his way through his activities; meaning he only lost one hour of sleep. The time spent on the streets also did the job of his late afternoon workout, meaning the time lost in the morning could be recuperated by no longer going to the gym. So, he hadn't so much as gained morning tiredness than shunted it forward so that it occurred at work.

That didn't make it any less obnoxious to be professional when he first sits as his desk, however.

When the elevator arrives at his floor, he leaves and slowly walks to his office. He only speaks to Mirajane and Levy, both of who he is sociable with as they had previously had desks either side of him before his promotion. He then walked into the Raijinshuu's secluded office space, sat himself at his desk and allowed himself some time to relax.

He was the first to be there, as usual. Bickslow and Evergreen would come later, having a later start to the day but also a later end. Laxus should be here but, as his punctuality would always act in direct coloration to his mood, so he would almost never arrive at nine exactly. This would either mean he had been in an hour earlier than needed and had always started his work, or would be late and they would later receive a visit from the blonde's grandfather. To his credit though, the time spent working overtime always made up for his lateness in the end.

This worked well for Freed as well, as whenever Laxus was late it allowed Freed a few moments of respite before the working day truly began.

Although technically he was only the photographer for the group, he did a lot more for the group. Not only would he take and prepare the photographs so they could be used, he would also read through all proposed stories both for structural and story issues; the serious nature of many of the stories they covered meant his subjective critique was just as needed as the editors objective one.

Lazily sipping his coffee as he slid his camera's SD card into his computer, Freed began to think back over the previous night. Particularly, his alter-ego's first encounter with Laxus. The same Laxus who sat directly opposite him.

Although Laxus was an excellent reporter who could easily pick out something a regular person would miss, he doubted Laxus knew it was him who had been his saviour. The biggest consistence between Freed and his vigilante self was his hair, which he doubted Laxus would have picked up on. Whereas the alter-ego had bright green hair with black streaks throughout that hung loose, Freed's normal hair was considerably more muted in it's green colour as well as tied up high in a pony tail. That, combined with the mask, change of eye colour, costume, and the absurdity that someone you know well could hide that he has demonic powers should keep his identity secret enough.

This was also the reason Freed, as his alter-ego, had mentioned reading Laxus' stories. If Laxus were to consider Freed being the vigilante, he would assume that Freed would cut off any connection to knowing him. doing the opposite would lead Laxus to confusion and would hopefully make him second-guess his conclusion.

Freed didn't know if his spells could alter someone's memory. And if they could, he didn't know if he could morally use it on someone he knew.

He had closed his eyes while thinking and let out a small laugh when he opened them again. As the Raijinshuu could take months for their exposé, they also needed to write fluff and filler stories under pseudonyms, hence why his computer was filled with images of a pug on a small trampoline because she had won a local competition. The contrast between his nights and his morning were so large that it could only be surmised by a laugh.

Mindlessly scrolling through the pictures he had taken the day before, in hopes of finding one that could be easily proportioned into the required size while not lacking quality, he heard the door to their office open. He looked over his shoulder to see it was Laxus.

"Good morning," He greeted, eyes scanning the other man slightly as he walked towards him.

"Morning," Laxus mumbled, running a hand over his face and collapsing into the chair seated opposite Freed.

He seemed better rested than Freed was, even if he was being more dramatic about it that Freed. He did have slight bags under his eyes and what seemed to be a nasty bruise forming under his right eye. Although it looked painful, it would at least be useful to Freed as it could give him a way into bringing up the subject of what happened last night, as well as chastising him for his stupidity with both of his personas. He wondered if Laxus was more likely to listen to him than the vigilante version of himself.

But he could broach that topic later, it was early in the morning and both men clearly hadn't yet awoken fully. So Freed simply frowned at the bruise as if confused as to why he had acquired it, before going back to browsing pictures and drinking his coffee.

Every few moments, he would glance up at Laxus. Unless Racer and his little gang had done anything to the blonde's torso, the only injury that Laxus had received was the bruise. He hadn't limped either last night or this morning, and although Laxus was the type to put himself in danger for his work, he also wasn't stubborn enough to deny the need for a doctor whenever it arose. So the fact he was here, and the only mark of an injury was a superficial bruise, meant that Freed had managed to keep his friend relatively safe the night before.

His being in the same area as Laxus wasn't entirely coincidental. Laxus had mentioned wanting to get the confession from Racer that night, so Freed had made sure to stay relatively near the bar Racer could often be found at.

He hadn't planned on prioritising Laxus throughout the night. Since he had begun his vigilante work, he had manged to work out a pretty effective system in finding crimes in action; a mixture of local news alerts as well as having hacked into a police radio system that played into an earpiece in his right ear; by the end of the first week he managed to drown out all unneeded words as well as understand many of the police terminology. If something had happened in the city unrelated to Laxus, he would have dealt with that rather than staying near Laxus. But, as the main issue of the night was the gunshot of Racer and Laxus' fight, he hadn't needed to worry.

Another yawn split apart Freed's lips as he placed the now empty thermos of coffee onto the desk, and Laxus chuckled slightly at it.

"Late night?" The blonde asked, cracking his back slightly as he adjusted his chair, so it was leaning back slightly. Freed know from experience that this meant he was working on a filler story, as when he worked on something, he was passionate about his posture would be better.

"Not intentionally," Freed lied, finally deciding on a picture and opening it in Photoshop. "Apparently I'm unable to see the difference between caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee."

"Maybe that'll be our next story once we finish with these bastards," Laxus joked, spinning in his chair as he procrastinated writing the award-winning dog story. "Famous journalist credited with taking down notorious crime family faces shame and public scrutiny as it's revealed, he can't fucking read a coffee can."

"And that, Laxus," Freed chuckled slightly. "Is why I don't let you write the headlines."

"What was wrong with it?" Laxus laughed, still not yet writing.

"Three things," Freed leant forward, a smirk playing on his lips. "One, it's so long that you'd have to write it in a small font for it to fit onto a page. Two, you should never give away the entire headline in the story, that's just standard. Three, do you really think your grandfather would allow the word 'fucking' on the front page of his newspaper?"

"Good points. You sure it's not just because you get paid for writing the headlines?" Laxus taunted slightly. Freed simply chuckled in response. "You think you're front page news, huh?"

"As if I'd accept anything less."

Laxus chuckled and, finally, started to type on his keyboard. Freed decided to leave him to it; even when doing something he wasn't passionate about, Laxus could get into a rhythm of writing and do a full draft within an hour if he wasn't interrupted. But if he was interrupted while writing a story he wasn't interested in; it was a battle to get him to start again. He could be something of a child at times.

Freed did everything needed on the picture to make it presentable, before opening one of the drafts that Evergreen had sent him. He had chosen her work to start on as she was more likely to self-edit as she went, rather than Laxus and Bickslow who could get caught in the moment of writing and make mistakes without realising it. They all had instances of being guilty of this, but Ever did it the least, meaning editing her work was the easiest thing for his half awake morning brain.

"So," Freed spoke as he formatted Ever's work, finding himself unable to stop himself. "Are you going to tell me what happened?"

"What happened when?" Laxus asked over the sound of his quick typing.

"Whenever you got the bruise," Freed glanced over the top of his monitor to see Laxus pull out his phone and assess his reflection; he must have not noticed it before. "And if you try to tell me that you fell on something, or walked into an open door, I will take it as a personal insult against my intelligence and I won't be happy."

Laxus stopped for a moment, obviously thinking. Freed had to wonder if Laxus was considering lying about what he was doing, or considering lying about meeting the vigilante that he had previously denied existing.

"Went to a bar," Laxus spoke eventually. "Got a little drunk, some bastard was making too much noise. Went into an alley and, well, you can guess."

Ah. So he wasn't actually going to lie, but he would conveniently leave out all the aspects of his night that would tell Freed he did something stupid and put himself in danger. Freed had heard stories of how Laxus had acted as a child, none all that complimentary. If he could lie as smoothly as he just had, he could imagine the trouble he could have given his grandfather while going through his rebellious phase. Freed might be able to laugh, if Laxus wasn't hiding the fact that he nearly got both stabbed and shot the night before.

"Well obviously you're lying or not telling me everything," Freed muttered, and saw Laxus frown at him in a silent question as to how he knew this. "If that's what happened, you wouldn't be proud of it and would lie. The fact that you're telling me that, it means that something worse happened. So, again, what happened?"

"I trailed Racer," Laxus sighed. "Went to a bar, wanted him to confess. He left for an alley, I followed him, things went bad for a while but I'm fine."

"Bad how?" Freed sighed.

"There was a gun. And a knife."

"For god's sake Laxus," Freed groaned, reigniting the frustrations he felt when he first saw what had happened to Laxus the night before. "I told you multiple times that, before we try and get them to confess face to face, we should explore all other options. And if we do need to act like that, at the very least make your intentions clear."

Freed knew that he was perhaps being more cautious that he would have been before he began his vigilante work. Perhaps it was because he was becoming more aware of how bad the people they were investigating truly could be, and perhaps it was a slight amount of arrogance because he knew that he could handle himself in these situations but, as nobody else had the abilities that he had, other people could not. Either way, what happened the night before gave clear evidence as to why caution was sometimes good.

He wouldn't continue complaining about it. Although it could have ended up incredibly badly, he only ended the night with a bruise and it might have shaken him up enough so that he might show more caution than he had before.

Laxus also seemed to be happy with the conversation ending, so they both went back to their respective work. Freed started to make the small adjustments on the story Ever had sent him, while Laxus continued writing the story again. Admittedly, it was slightly funny to see the large man pouting slightly at his desk, made even more funny when he realised that he was a well-respected journalist writing a story about a dog bouncing on a trampoline.

"I need a walk," Laxus suddenly proclaimed after his stream of typing died down. "You wanna blow off for half an hour? Say we don't have any good pics of the dog and we need some more?"

"Sure," Freed smiled a little. "Though, again, I must say I'm offended that you think anyone would believe I can take a picture that isn't perfect."

Laxus chuckled, standing up and slinging his coat over his shoulders. He picked up his bottle of water as Freed placed the camera back into its bag, which was then slung over his shoulder as to make the lie more believable. They walked to the elevator side by side, again Freed greeted his previous desk mates as he passed them; though he did resist the urge to kick Mirajane's chair as her eyes flickered between the two men suggestively. She had some form of invested interest between whatever relationship the two men had together.

"So," Laxus said as he pushed the button to call the elevator. "Since I can't do any work tonight, you mind if I come over for some company? I'll bring pizza though, ain't a freeloader. I'd invite you to mine but you've seen my place."

Freed chuckled, a little weakly, at the expense of Laxus' crappy studio apartment that he could defiantly improve on and not become financially unstable. It was a running joke between the Raijinshuu that Laxus' apartment wasn't anywhere near as good as it should be, given the money he earns and the position he had at the company, meaning he would have to laugh at the self-deprecating joke to not seem odd.

But in truth, the innocent question was concerning to Freed. Since he had begun his vigilante work, he hadn't really had to balance his social and alter-ego life much. Even on the nights he had decided not to take to the streets, he had the ability to change his mind if something had happened.

Hypothetically, if Laxus were to come to Freed's apartment and something were to happen in the city, he would either have to sit through it and do nothing, or he would have to reveal that he had been the one to save Laxus the night before as well as being the costumed hero that had been protecting Magnolia as of late. And although Freed had realised that being a hero wasn't exactly as presented in comic books, and Laxus wasn't suddenly going to be suspended above boiling oil as leverage against him, Laxus knowing about his alter-ego would defiantly open a can of worms that Freed wasn't yet ready for.

Though, Freed had figured out a way to put people to sleep. It might not be the most ethical thing to do, but he could use that spell on Laxus if the situation required. He could be subtle with his casting, and he would enjoy spending time with Laxus out of work.

"Sounds good," He finally spoke as the elevator doors opened. "Make sure the pizza's got chorizo on it."

"As if I could forget," Laxus grinned as they entered the elevator. "The high standards of Freed Justine are imprinted on my mind. Wouldn't want to wake up the spoiled rich kid inside, you've been keeping him contained for so long there must be one hell of a tantrum building up."

"And smart-ass comments like that are what might finally bring it to the surface."

Hearing Laxus chuckle, Freed decided that he had made the right decision. Sure, if the worse were to happen then it might be a little difficult to pull of perfectly, but having a lazy night with the other man in his company was worth the risk. He could do this.

-~~~-

Saturday July 20th, 2019, Late Night.

Laxus slowly rolled his neck back as he pushed further into Freed's sofa. The thing was more comfortable than his bed, and the blonde found it hard to resist the screaming urge that told him he should sleep; he had been more shaken from the previous night's activities, so sleep had been spotty and uneven at best. He was more than willing to make up for that, but he had invited himself into Freed's apartment, falling asleep after doing that would just be rude.

And, of course, he wanted to keep an eye on Freed.

He liked to think he knew his photographer well, and he could notice when things weren't right with him. So to see Freed acting tired at his desk over the last month or so, along with a whole assortment of other small shifts in how he acted, it made Laxus worry. Perhaps unnecessarily but being aware of that didn't make him worry any less.

This was why Laxus had invited himself into Freed's apartment for the night; so he could either put his worries to rests and confirm that nothing was wrong with Freed, or at least have full confirmation that he wasn't over thinking so he could try and help his friend. Spending time at work had allowed Freed to keep Laxus pretty much at arms length, but spending time with him in his apartment would allow the man to let his guard down. Also, Laxus enjoyed the company of his friend, and spending a night with him was considerably nicer than what he had done the night before.

Having been at Freed's apartment for over an hour, nothing was overly concerning. Freed still cleaned the place to a near obsessive degree, he hasn't been overworking himself at home in any obvious way, and he hadn't seemed overly stressed or antsy as they had eaten. All in all, Freed seemed pretty much the same as usual.

'Thank god.'

He knew that he had probably been overthinking. It was something he was prone to doing, more so with Freed. He didn't feel protective over the other man – not really – but he did pay more attention to his friend than he did with anyone else in his team. The reason for this was also obvious to him.

Although he couldn't accurately define it, he knew he had some kind of feelings for the man. It had happened almost instantaneously; he was working on his first expose and needed a photographer to help get some incriminating pictures of a celebrity. Most people working for the newspaper had denied his request, being involved in a case against someone with such a large social influence could be career suicide, but Freed hadn't batted an eyelid. In fact, he had shown so much confidence in his work that his actual reply was 'as long as you don't get in my way, of course.' That cocky, fearless attitude combined with the good looks of the man, it was natural for Laxus to feel that way.

As time went by, Laxus started to call on Freed as his photographer before anyone else. They soon became partners, and got to know each other better. Freed was actually pretty funny, with a sharp wit and almost nihilistic sense of humour. The closer he got to Freed, the more parts of the man he found he liked. So of course he found himself feeling some kind of romantic feelings to the man.

He'd say he had a crush, but he was a twenty-three-year-old man. Not a six-year-old.

The issue with feeling like that was his lack of ability to talk about it. He wasn't a romantic person, and talking about his emotions had never been something he was confident in doing. So even if he could gather the courage to perhaps bring it up, he would stumble over his words and make an ass out of himself. Not to mention risking his friendship with the man. God; he really did sound like an angsty teenager when he started to think about it.

"You seem very lost in thought," Freed said as he returned from his kitchen, holding out two opened beers and handing one to Laxus. "Anything on your mind."

Damn, he really needed to stop his mind from wondering to such a degree. For someone who's career it was to look into the small things that people tried to hide and come to conclusions based off it, he wasn't great at keeping his emotions hidden behind a mask.

"Just thinking about what happened last night," He lied, although that had been something that had been toying on his thoughts for a multitude of reasons.

He hadn't realised it at the time, perhaps too high on adrenaline, but the previous night was insane. He had been held at gunpoint by an apparently murderous member of a soon-to-be notorious crime family, who he then beat up until he required his cronies to restrain him. He then was going to be stabbed by the damn guy, only for him to be saved by someone who's exitance he had doubted. A man who could apparently perform spells, transform his hand into some kind of monstrous claw, as well as teleport. And the guy apparently knew his work?

Everything was fucking insane! Laxus had woken up thinking he had experienced some kind of fever dream.

"I know it isn't something you want to re-live, but I'm happy to listen if you do want to get it off your chest," Freed offered.

"You wouldn't believe me," Laxus chuckled, bringing the beer to his lips and taking a sip.

"Try me."

Laxus thought for a moment. He supposed that Freed, being a reported, had to have at least a partially open mind. And the stories of the vigilante were getting more popular, so it would seem as though Laxus was just making up bullshit.

"Fine," He eventually said, an almost challenging smirk on his face. If Freed was willing to believe anything, Laxus certainly had a story to test that claim. "Last night, I was saved by the superhero guy."

Although he didn't look at Freed, Laxus could imagine his expression. Restrained shock that would probably turn into amusement at the fact Laxus was backtracking on something that he had been steadfast against existing. The moment he heard a soft chuckle, he knew that his assessment of Freed's reaction was right; of course the guy would enjoy Laxus changing his mind on something that he had previously would have argued passionate against.

"Okay," Freed said after a few moments. "Explain, so I can pinpoint the moment you hit your head and started becoming delusional."

"You know it's that kinda attitude that gets a guy kicked out of another guys apartment." Laxus chuckled, not actually offended.

"You going to kick me out of my own apartment?" Freed raised an eyebrow.

"Guess not. But I can storm out and slam the door pretty fucking hard," Laxus grinned, sipping at the drink he nursed in his hands. "Piss off all your neighbours, get you kicked out. And when you come to my place 'cause you're homeless, then I'll kick your ass to the kerb."

Freed laughed at the comment, also drinking his beer as he mindlessly scrolled through his Netflix to put on something that would entertain them both. Having this slightly flirtatious conversation with Freed, it left all his doubts about his friend in the back of his mind. He was just thankful that he could accredit the slight redness of his cheeks onto the beer he was drinking, because the gentle brushing of their shoulders along with the pleasant, easy conversation between them was something that was defiantly causing a blush to form.

"So," Freed spoke again. "What happened."

"Pretty much what I said before," Laxus shifted so that he was looking at Freed, also so that their knees didn't touch as that was just too much for a slightly drunk man to handle. "Was gonna try and get Racer to make some kind of confession when he was drunk. He left the bar earlier than I thought he would, so I followed him into an alley."

"Always a wise choice with a weapons dealer."

"Fuck off," Laxus laughed, smile remaining on his face. "So yeah, followed him. Fucked up a little and he found me recording him, so he pulled a gun on me, made me crush the recorder – I need a new one, by the way – and started to threaten me."

The fact he was recounting this story in such a comical way seemed odd even to Laxus, but he couldn't feel any different. He expected that, if his life had ever been in danger like it had been, it would affect him more. And yes, sleep had been difficult and many of his dreams had been filled with gunshots and sharp knives, but it wasn't as if he couldn't close his eyes without having flashbacks. Either he was unusual, or fiction liked to glamorise the effects of a traumatic to a pretty dramatic degree.

"Managed to knock the gun out," The blonde continued. "Got in a few punches; damn satisfying. Then his bastard minions got involved and held me down. Racer pulled out a knife, was gonna stab me, then the guy drops from the sky, kicks the fucker and beats the hell out of him and two of his bastards."

"He just happened to be there?" Freed asked.

"Gun went off when I was getting it off Racer, guess he must have heard it," Laxus shrugged, brining the beer to his lips. "He didn't just fight them, though. He had all these spells and crap. Like, he made walls and he got a claw and… yeah, I sound like an idiot, don't I?"

"Not at all," Freed said, his voice sounding amused. "Your stories pretty consistent with everyone else Bickslow talked to. Maybe he can interview you next."

Laxus groaned in slight embarrassment. He had first found out about the vigilante from Bickslow, who pitched the story to Laxus. After hearing this, Laxus had made a pretty big show about how they shouldn't waste time following some non-existent superhero while they had a case as serious as the Oración Seis to deal with. He still maintained that was a logical stance to take, but he also knew Bickslow would rip the hell out of him when Freed inevitably told him.

"So, you've got a first person recount of him," Freed continued. "What was he like?"

"Honestly, pretty hot," Laxus laughed, the alcohol in his system loosening his barriers. "Good body, handsome, cocky. Probably good in bed."

He let out a laugh at his own words. The laugh was partially because the vigilante was the closest thing to a superhero that reality had to offer and, after being saved by him, Laxus had admitted to finding him hot like he was a damsel in distress in a comic book. He also laughed because everything he had admitted to liking about the vigilante, he could also say about Freed. Other than the good in bed thing, because he had to remain somewhat professional with the guy and thinking about how he would be between the sheets was a dangerous thing to do.

Thankfully, the awkward confession of attraction towards the vigilante isn't lingered on. Freed lets out a small laugh, though it had a slightly different lilt than his normal laugh. Either he was overthinking things again, or his drunken mind way playing tricks on him.

"So that solidifies your type then, doesn't it Laxus," Freed grinned. "Almost entirely unattainable, and possibly fictional. You don't make life easy for yourself, do you?"

The irony of Freed's words were not lost on Laxus; the object of any real desires was truly unattainable, but certainly not fictional. The blonde slowly turned his head away from the TV and towards Freed. The light from the TV shone onto his face, highlighting his near impossible mixture of fragility and ruggedness that made up his features. That, combined with the sharp, annoyingly beckoning lips, made Laxus realise just how uneasy he had made his life for himself. There Freed was, always both so close and so out of reach.

The silence seemed them turned suddenly deafening as Freed looked away from the TV also, and directly into Laxus' eyes. The closeness of the two men became clear, and Laxus was now incredibly aware of their shoulders resting against each other, and how his knee knocked against Freed's.

Shit.

He sat still for a moment, almost as if he didn't want to spook the man. Freed's eyes scanned Laxus' face, analysing him with a slightly soft expression. Laxus made sure that, when his eyes eventually rested again, he was ready to greet them. They both leant forward slightly, Laxus leaning down while Freed jutted his chin upwards slightly. Laxus felt his breath hitch as a hand softly landed on his lower thigh; Freed's hand.

Perhaps not so out of reach.

They both slowly leant forward further. Their foreheads gently connected as they moved their lips closer. Laxus felt the soft exhales of Freed's breaths tickle his lips in an almost cruel taunt as he made the final move to bring him into a kiss.

And, in a cruel act of fate, Freed's phone lit up and blurted loudly from the coffee table.

They pulled apart suddenly, the slightly drunken spell cast on each other breaking as they pulled away. Laxus recognised the blaring alarm coming from Freed's phone to be that of the Fairy Tail app's news alert; though why he had to have it that loud was unknown to Laxus. Or why he had to have the damn thing at all, for that matter, as they both worked for the damn newspaper and would figure out what had happened pretty soon without an obnoxious push notification. More so when they were just about to fucking kiss!

"You really need it that fucking loud?" He demanded, a scowl on his face that he couldn't bother to hide.

"Sorry, my phone needs to be updated. Volume keeps changing without me wanting it to," Freed explained, and Laxus hoped the hint of annoyance in the other man's voice wasn't just wishful thinking. The other man picked his phone from the table and read the notification. "Damn."

"What's up?" Laxus asked, mainly out of obligation. What he really wanted to do was smash the offending phone and demand they continue their previous actions.

"A fire," Freed explained, standing up and walking to his window. Even from where Laxus was sitting, he could see smoke rising across the sky. "Kitchen fire, at the Blue Pegasus Hotel, apparently."

Despite his annoyance at the situation, he knew it was superficial in comparison to what had caused it. Having a fire at an office would be bad, but a hotel was awful. It would be heavily populated in the night and, given the extent of the smoke covering the city, a hell of a lot of people might be hurt. He immediately thought about how his work would be tomorrow; being a journalist the day after a cataclysm was the most sobering thing Laxus had been through. He could only hope that the people inside could be helped before the fire could get too bad.

A small part of his mind wondered if the vigilante from the night before would be helping.

"Jesus, most people would be asleep by now," Freed commented, looking towards his clock. It was one in the morning.

"Yeah," Laxus agreed soberly. "Still, as shit as it is, all we can do it let the professionals do what they can and help as many people as possible."

"I suppose," Freed sighed, walking back to the coffee table. He picked up the two bottles of beer and walked towards the kitchen, though lingered directly behind the sofa as he passed it. "Do you want to stay here tonight? No point in walking home this late."

"You don't mind?" Laxus looked over his shoulder towards Freed.

"Not at all."

Laxus was about to thank his host, when the other man placed both hands on his shoulders. He opened his mouth to ask what was happening – as well as ignoring the hopeful thought that Freed would lean down and finish what they had started before – but he felt a sudden wave of tiredness overthrow him. His muscles relaxed within an instant, his mind quickly calming to a point of near unconsciousness. It was unnatural, but he felt the tiredness too overwhelming to care.

Lacking the willpower to question what was happening, Laxus allowed his eyes to close. His head fell against the back of Freed's sofa, resting his blurring gaze on Freed's bedroom door.

And although his sight was hazy and oppressed, a moment before the sleep could take him completely, he could almost be sure he saw Freed pick up a coat from the back of his door and adorn it.

A coat exactly the same shade as the one the vigilante had worn the night before.

Huh.

-~~~-

Monday August 5th, 2019, Late Evening.

There was something about doing this that made Freed feel alive.

An adrenaline rush would course itself through his veins every time he placed the mask against his face. He would teleport himself onto a random rooftop, loving over the well illuminated city of Magnolia, and something would just ignite inside of him. A passion, a sense of duty, a roaring voice that said that this town was his domain and it was his privilege to protect its residents as best he possibly could.

He would jump from rooftop to rooftop, his wings making previously unthinkable distances to cross seem like a simple step. He would check the most popular spots for mugging and criminal dealings, stop them if he saw them, and return back to patrolling the next part of the city.

If he were to say he didn't enjoy his vigilante work, he would be lying.

Perhaps he was just imagining it, but he felt his presence in the city had some kind of effect on the amount of crime in the city. There was no great supervillain, nobody with a vendetta against him as far as he knew, so he had the ability to tackle the smaller crimes that, at least in fiction, were hardly mentioned. So, after being beaten up by someone with abilities that can only be described as magical, Freed liked to think that the backstreet muggers and drug dealers would think that the risk wasn't worth it. Or maybe it was arrogance mixed with the thrill of what he was doing becoming more regular; but Freed liked to think he had an impact.

With every day that went by, he felt himself getting better at vigilante work. His sleep schedule was finally starting to adjust to his new hours, so he wasn't all but dead to the world when he came into work. The sense of obligation was also lessening; he could only help the people he could find, and if a crime happened without him knowing, he shouldn't feel guilty.

He had also started to map out how the city's criminals worked. There were certain days in which the standard crimes of mugging, drug dealings and vandalism were less consistent, mainly mid-week when there were less people on the streets to be the victims. On these days, Freed often shortened his patrol time so that he could catch up on the sleep that his body still demanded. He also knew some of the worst spots for crimes that occurred often, such as the central square being a hellscape of pick-pockets picking on drunk people. All in all, he was starting to get a streamlined routine going and a sense of regularity back into his life.

But over the last week or two, he had found himself on the streets at the night more than needed.

It was a distraction, stopping him from confronting the reality that he and Laxus had almost kissed; that they would have kissed if it weren't for his news alerts. Laxus was one of the few men that Freed had actually considered a relationship with, and there was a very good chance that their almost kiss would have stopped that from actually happening.

When it was happening, Freed's mind had been in a rush. A fire was happening, and people likely would be trapped in a place where only Freed could save them. He needed to prioritise them, so he put Laxus into a sleep spell as soon as possible and teleported away within the minute.

After saving everyone he could, Freed was given time to think.

He had walked home rather than teleporting, his mind fully engrossed in the memories of the near-kiss he shared with Laxus. They had both been drinking, so Freed couldn't be sure if Laxus' leaning in was fuelled by the beer running through his veins, or if there had been some genuine form of attraction to him.

At least he could be sure that Laxus was attracted to his vigilante self. That was something Freed had found himself chuckling at.

When he had returned to his apartment, his mind was still plagued by the nights events were going to affect his relationship with Laxus; something made harder when he remembered that the very same blonde was sleeping on his sofa. He had placed his friend on his bed, made the sofa up for himself and forced himself not to think about it for the night.

It was something he had been doing for nearly two weeks now. Hence, why he was on patrol on a lazy Wednesday night. A distraction.

He felt he had justification for needing a distraction, though. Because, it was clear to Freed that Laxus remembered at least the kiss they almost shared, as there had been a slightly shift in how they acted around each other. He wasn't shunned exactly, and it wasn't as if there was a lingering secret that needed to be revealed, but it just felt different. Like they were both keeping each other at arm's length so that they don't need to discuss what had happened. A task made difficult when they work directly opposite one another and are practically partners in what they do.

Freed can't blame Laxus for this, as he knew he was doing the same. It was more convenient to pretend nothing had happened, so that's what he was doing.

Which was fine. It was working fine.

With a burst of enthusiasm, Freed ran towards the edge of the building he stood on. He pushed off from the edge of the structure and propelled himself into the dark sky, purple translucent wings forming behind his and allowing him to fly throughout the city.

Soaring through the brisk summer air, he made sure not to disrupt the people below as made his way to the western end of the city. Although it was the more affluent part of the town, it also had considerably more crime. Freed suspected that, as the people who were targeted had more money, the criminals would think they would be more willing to give it up. Sound logic, and at least with the criminals focusing on this part of the city it meant less muggings would happen without Freed knowing about it.

However, there was of course another reason for his focus in this area. Laxus had found out earlier in the day that Angel, a member of the Oración Seis family, had just started to become involved with the family's dealings. Laxus had been excited, knowing that out of all the family members, she was least likely to know his face. Meaning he could still get his confession from a member of the family.

And of course, as Laxus always seemed to act on instinct, it would only be so long before he put his plan into action.

It wasn't hard to find that Angel was staying in the penthouse suite of a luxury hotel in this area of the city, and it was even easier to find out she was in the hotel's bar every night drinking. Knowing Laxus as well as he did, Freed realised that he would try to flirt his way into her apartment, overwhelm her with compliments after she had gotten drunk enough to make her more likely to reveal some secrets, and probe her as subtly as he could until he got what he wanted. It was a plan that had worked before, but Freed doubted Laxus would just get slung onto the streets in a state of undress if it went wrong. Angel was someone to be feared, and Laxus' excitement might have clouded that from him.

He was keeping Laxus at arm's length, but still cared for him a great deal. And if Laxus couldn't execute his plan perfectly, he might need the vigilante to save him.

Instead of landing on the luxury building itself, he settled for perching on the fire escape of the building that sat opposite. He could clearly see the penthouse suite, the only place violence could occur without being caught by the copious amounts of security cameras that covered both in and around the hotel.

Time passed slowly as he waited to see if something had happened. The vigilante wasn't proud of it, but he had checked in on Laxus' apartment before he left and found out that the blonde wasn't there. He knew the other man well enough to know he wasn't going to be social when he was so close to finalising a story that had been plaguing his mind for such a long time, so he would defiantly be there. Freed just needed to wait and see if something was going to happen.

"Perhaps I should get an eyepiece," He spoke to himself, something he found himself doing more often now. "Shouldn't be hard to hack into hotel security."

After ten or so minutes of leaning against the uncomfortable metal railings of the fire escape, Freed found himself bored out of his mind. He sprouted his wings again and started to fly around the area, looking out for any crimes in progress that he could stop, or any recognisable faces that he could pay a visit to before they could hold someone at gunpoint and scare them half to death. He found none, which was perhaps for the best as his eyes continuously strayed towards the window of the penthouse suite. So far, the lights in the room hadn't been turned on.

He waited around for nearly an hour before something had happened – waiting was also a larger part of doing vigilante work that fiction failed to tell you about – and the lights to the hotel suite turned on. He landed on a nearby building and looked through the window, eyes narrowing slightly to get a better view.

There was Laxus. With a gun pressed into his back. Of course.

Jumping into action, Freed knew that if Angel was willing to shoot Laxus even his teleportation wouldn't be fast enough to stop her. He flew forward as fast as he could towards the window, eyes trained on the gun. It was the same type the family sold; meaning he knew the metal the casing was made out of. Within in instant, runes plastered themselves across the walls of the suite she was in, heating up that exact metal to a boiling point. He smirked when he saw Angel suddenly throw the gun to the side.

Knowing that he couldn't teleport while using his wings – it was too draining on him – he decided to hold back on entering the room. Instead, he waited and hoped that Laxus would take the chance given to him to get the hell out of there.

Mercifully, the moment the gun was thrown to the side Laxus barged Angel out of the way and ran for the door. Freed let out a breath that he was holding, only to hold it again when Angel ran towards a wall mounted tablet. She pushed a button just before Laxus could reach the door, and when the blonde pulled on it for it to be opened, Freed could only watch as he struggled it. He assumed that this was some kind of security system, disallowing Laxus his exit.

Freed took in a short breath, wondering what his options were. The gun was still untouchable, unless Angel wanted a pretty bad burn, so that was one positive. The new issue was, the woman now had a knife; apparently Laxus was making a habit of nearly getting shot and then nearly getting stabbed.

He needed to act fast.

The windows were going to be unbreakable if the hotel's security was this good, and even if Freed cancelled his flight and teleported before he hit the ground, momentum was carried, and he would be at the very least winded beyond use. For now, all Freed could do was watch and help in any way he could from outside using his runes.

Although he couldn't make out their words, Freed could guess that she was threatening him. He slowly put his hands up and walked towards her, his face somehow restraining what was obviously fear. The vigilante kept in line with the two, watching as she rested the knife against Laxus' chest.

They walked slowly to the large balcony of the suite, which allowed Freed the ability to get closer and intervene if needed. But he needed to be careful, if he flew in now there was a chance that Angel would force the knife into Laxus' chest, either out of panic or out of spite. He flew a little closer, keeping himself low enough so that neither would be able to see. Although his own sight was hindered, he could at least hear what they were saying now.

"So," Angel spoke with a sickly-sweet tone. "Now I don't want to explain why there's blood all over my apartment, dear stud of a reporter. It would be much easier if you just, well… suicide is so common now, maybe we can pretend you're another statistic."

"You think I'm gonna make this easier for you, bitch?" Laxus spat, and Freed felt his jaw clench. Why did he have to make things hard for himself?

"Now Mr Dreyar, I wouldn't annoy me if I were you. You've such a handsome face, I wouldn't want to mess it up myself," Angels threat was obvious, and Freed could just about see her dragging the knife across his cheek. "And, look at it this way. You might land on a balcony and just get mangled and live. If I use my toy, that won't happen."

'Okay.' Freed thought to himself. 'This could be worse.'

"I hope you don't mind, I'll be telling the reporter you broke down crying and confessed to being washed up and an alcoholic," Angel continued. "Up on the edge. Now."

Although Freed couldn't be sure of what was going through Laxus' mind, he knew the man would be scared. He calmed his own breathing and closed his eyes, focusing on the sound of Laxus climbing onto the edge of the building. He was about two feet to the left of Freed, which was good. Slowly, trying not to scare the man, he flew directly to where Laxus was standing, still keeping out of sight of Angel as he hovered in place.

Laxus was looking down, slightly unsteady because of the wind. The moment he saw Freed, it was obvious a look of relief filled him entirely. Freed offered him a small smile that he hoped would comfort the man, before forcing eye contact between them both.

"I will save you," He mouthed clearly, words sincere. "I promise."

Laxus managed a small, weary nod. At the same moment, Angel seemed to be getting impatient and slammed her hands into the small of his back in a vicious push. Laxus lost his footing and stumbled forward, over the edge of the building and towards the ground below. The speed of the action shocked Freed, and he quickly watched as the man flew past him.

Freed dove down, managing to move faster than the falling figure of his friend. He managed to wrap his arms around the blonde's. He had to fall alongside him for a short while before he could start to carry him back and start flying how he normally would.

The blonde was shaking, Freed had never seen him so vulnerable.

He placed him on one of the vacant hotel balconies, making sure he was safely sitting. It took a few moments before Laxus could open his eyes and when he was sure that he wasn't falling, he offered Freed a weak smile. The vigilante returned it, placing a comforting hand on the man's shoulder and casting a calming spell on him.

"I'll be back in a moment," He said, using the same runes to change his voice that he had used before, only speaking softer. "I'll help you down, I just need to deal with her, first."

After Laxus gave him a small nod, Freed flew up from the balcony and back up towards the penthouse. Angel had looked over the edge of the balcony, assuredly because she hadn't heard a crashing sound, and Freed got great amounts of satisfaction at seeing her eyes widen as he slowly, threateningly raised himself so that he was eye level with the witch of a woman. His wings were spread wide, his hair rising as power coursed through it, and for the first time he felt himself fighting off his demonic form rather him calling it fourth.

This was the most angry he had been as a vigilante.

"Agony," He casted, the words forming on her stomach in the runic language he had grown to control. She doubled over, clutching at the words causing her pain. "Look at me," He demanded, Angel ignoring her. "Look at me!" He roared.

The woman slowly looked towards Freed, the pain evident in her eyes. He had no sympathy for her; not only had she tried to kill the man Freed care for more than most, her enthusiasm to become part of her families business told her she had no morals. If she wasn't willing to show mercy to others, she shouldn't expect it given to her.

"Tell your stupid little family, and whatever little minions you manage to brainwash, that man is protected," He demanded. "And his protection has more power than your darkest thoughts could imagine."

He turned his back on the woman and flew back down towards Laxus, knowing that the spell would wear off eventually. If his treatment of Racer and his men hadn't been enough to ward them off hurting Laxus, leaving her in pain for around an hour or so would make it clear that he was one of few people that were off limits.

Landing on the balcony, he felt his anger dissipating. He cancelled the spell that he had placed on Laxus, knowing that he had already calmed down to a degree where he wouldn't be hysterical. He wasn't shaking any more, and just seemed to be looking at his hands.

"Sorry for leaving you here," He apologised, his warped voice sounding odd when speaking so calmly. "So, Mr Dreyar, are you going to become my first regular customer."

"You got a problem with that," Laxus grinned a little. Freed assumed he was performing. "Thought I was a pretty good victim."

"I never said anything on the contrary. You make a very good damsel in distress," He made sure to put emphasis on the damsel part, knowing it would annoy his colleague. "Although I would rather you just be a damsel, as I'd rather you not keep having to remove you from the distress."

"Ain't a damsel," Laxus protested, pouting slightly. Freed laughed at this, and Laxus joined in. "Sorry for putting you out of the way."

"It was no bother," Freed sighed, sitting on the chair opposite Laxus. "You know that family is dangerous. Why keep putting yourself in situations like this?"

"No fucker else will. If we go to the police, they'll say I'm talking out of my ass. If I can get a confession, all the shit they're doing might stop," Laxus sighed slightly, leaning back in his chair. "Or at least it'll make them pay attention."

Freed thought for a moment. Both his vigilante persona and his actual self could see the logic in this, and knowing Laxus as well as he did, he knew that Laxus would cling to that logic until he either got a confession that couldn't be denied, or he died trying. Something that was becoming more and more likely the more he dealt with the Oración Seis. And, given the distance that was forming between Freed and Laxus, it was possible that Freed might not know the next time Laxus would get himself held at gunpoint.

"What exactly do you need from them?" He asked, though knew the answer.

"Footage of them confessing to doing all the illegal shit. Weapons trading, drug trafficking and pretty much everything you can think of. Need to make sure people know it's them without a doubt, and then I'll leave 'em alone."

"I'll get it for you," Freed said, voice stern. Laxus looked up, face shocked and confused. "Give me two weeks, I'll get an irrefutable confession, I'll get it to you. My condition, don't put yourself in danger until at least the two weeks are over."

"Seriously?" Laxus asked, voice shocked. Freed nodded. "Yeah, sure. You think you can do that?"

"What good am I if I can't stop the villains of this city?"

They both laughed with each other, and Freed couldn't help but be reminded how this easy conversation was lacking normally. He could no longer talk to Laxus in this way when he wasn't adorning his costume, and that left a small amount of dull hollowness. He half hoped that a reminder of what he was missing would give him the kick to bring their friendship back to what it had once been. But he knew it wouldn't happen.

As he opened his mouth to speak, a light turned on. The light of the room that was connected to the balcony they were sitting on. He had forgotten that someone would actually be sleeping in that room and, by the look of Laxus' face, he had forgotten also.

"We should probably leave," Laxus chuckled, eyeing the curtained doors. "You can take me down, right."

"Of course," Freed said with a small smirk, before lifting Laxus up bridal style. Laxus gave him a half glare as the wings spouted from his back. "What, how else do you expect a hero to lift his damsel in distress to safety."

"Bastard."

Freed watched as Laxus laughed in his arms, and he slowly started to move his wings to bring them into the air. Bringing him down was a pretty smooth process, he had gotten a lot of practice doing the same thing while attending to the victims of the fire at Blue Pegasus hotel. It took less than a minute to bring Laxus back down to the ground, which was enough time to allow him to come to a conclusion that he was certain of.

He missed Laxus' company. A lot.

-~~~-

Thursday August 15th, 2019, Late Afternoon.

A loud groan left Laxus' lips as he leant back in his desk chair, running a hand over his face.

He was exhausted, brain hardly functioning as he looked at the monitor before him, which seemed to be more a blurry mass of black and white rather than a page of text that he had just written. He had been in work nearly an hour before his shift and started and should have left over two hours ago. But, despite the voice telling him to go home and relax for the night, he was still sat at his office as the sun started to fall.

It had nearly been two weeks since he had been saved by the Vigilante for the second time, and the man had promised to get evidence against the Oración Seis that would finish his story. When he had returned home that night, he found himself questioning why he had happily given such an important task to a stranger, but there was a level of trust he had for the man that he couldn't explain.

Maybe because he had saved Laxus' life twice.

But as the days had passed after the deal had been struck, Laxus had heard nothing. He felt useless, depending on someone he hardly knew to do something so important. He was going to keep to his side of the deal and leave the Oración Seis, and instead had put his focus onto finishing a pile of fluff stories that he had been putting off. That was why he had been doing so much overtime work, so if the Vigilante couldn't end up getting the evidence, Laxus would have enough stories to publish immediately so he could make up for lost time in his investigation.

Also, because, every time he was left to his thoughts, he found himself feeling nauseous at the idea he might have missed his chance entirely with Freed and ruined their friendship.

What the hell had he been thinking? It wasn't as if he had drunk to the point where he had lost all sense, so why had he thought trying to kiss Freed was a good idea. Their friendship had been solid, and one of the better things in Laxus' life, and although he had some kind of feelings for the other man, he wouldn't be heartbroken if they never started to date. But now, not only was that seemingly off the cards, but also their friendship had been damaged to the point where they couldn't act normal around each other.

It was bullshit. As was the fact he was acting like an angsty fucking teenager.

For god's sake, less than a month ago he had nearly fallen to his death and yet his mind was always occupied by Freed; was he so co-dependant? No, that wasn't it. But he and Freed had instantly clicked when they had met and, after their partnership had started, they had been there for each other indefinitely. And now, they felt just like colleagues. It was shit, but Laxus knew he couldn't complain unless he tried to fix the situations.

But what was he meant to do? Laxus couldn't talk to people, he's always been socially shit. And whenever a friendship had been damaged before, he hadn't cared enough to fix it. But he couldn't imagine living without Freed, so something needed to happen. Maybe he was hoping Freed would take the first step, but he was just as stubborn as Laxus.

So for now, he would just distract himself by diving into work.

He lifted his mug of coffee to his lips and drained it, leaning forward and narrowing his eyes at the monitor, hoping that the blurriness of his eyes would lessen slightly. It half worked, at least he could half read what was written, which was all he needed to finish this story and end his work for the night.

Minimising the text document, he opened his email and started to scroll through his imbox. Freed had finished working on the image for his story, so Laxus thought that, if nothing else, he should format the file before leaving.

After he found the email containing the image needed, he leant against his hand and allowed a yawn to split apart his lips. This was probably the latest he had worked since becoming part of the Raijinshuu and sitting alone in the office for such a long time was starting to weigh on him. Still, if the Vigilante didn't manage to get a confession from the family, he needed all the time he could to work on them again. More so now, considering the family would definitely know him now, so regular confession baiting couldn't be done anymore.

That's what he kept telling himself as he sat back, pulled out his phone and opened his music app, fully intending to procrastinate.

This continued for a short while, as Laxus fell into the trap of mindlessly browsing through all his social media, until Laxus' computer monitor lit up alongside the sound of his email chime coming from the speaker. He leant forward, knowing that only his team and bosses would email his work address, and that never happened at such a late time. So, whoever was emailing him, probably had something urgent to say.

After scrolling to the top of his inbox, he sat up straight. The sender's address was simply 'UnregisteredA' and it was accompanied with the subject line: Needed Evidence.

It was pretty obvious that the email was from the Vigilante, but he still couldn't trust the stranger entirely. He opened it to see that it only contained a video file alongside the short message of “I’m sure that this will be enough for your story. V”. Assuming the V stood for vigilante, Laxus felt a small bubble of excitement from in his stomach as he brought his mouse to the video filed and started to play it.

The video was a little shaky and seemed to be from some kind of bodycam. In the middle of the image was Midnight, Cobra and Racer; three unmistakable members of the Oración Seis, the most recognisable members too. Holy shit, if there was anything close to a confession on this, they wouldn't be able to deny it at all.

Looking at the greater picture of the video, Laxus felt himself getting more excited. They were in a warehouse, surrounded by large crates and containers. The family members hadn't yet noticed the Vigilante yet, and they had just opened one of the many crates that surrounded them. When Cobra pulled out the contents of the crate, Laxus was gifted an unhindered view of a weapon. A gun that was no where near being legal, and now Laxus had footage of the most famous member of the family inspecting it like an expert.

"You sure we can't jack up the price?" Racer asks, and Laxus felt his grin getting wider. "Feel like we could get more."

"I agree," Midnight continued, also picking up a gun. "We have a good product; we deserve a good price."

"Neither of you know what the hell you're talking about," Cobra hissed slightly, placing the gun back into the crate. "Our clients are volatile, we discussed a price and we will stick to it. Besides, if we become civil then this can become a more regular deal. That's when we start getting the price we need."

Laxus leant back in his chair, laughing slightly at the footage before him. In the act. The vigilante had just given him a recording of them in the fucking act! There was no way in hell that they could deny their actions once this went public; discussing business deals, holding the weapons, talking about how this wasn't an individual event. All he needed to do was publish this and their crappy little business was going to fall and crumble.

The blonde continued watching the footage, and grinned as he saw all three criminals turn when the Vigilante made his presence knows. They all looked at the camera with wide eyes, and damn Laxus wanted to make it the background of his computer.

A moment later, all three men had picked up guns and were aiming at the Vigilante. From the odd camera angle, Laxus could make out the Vigilante raising his hand and forming a barrier made out of the same energy that had captured the men when they first met. He Vigilante stormed forward towards the three criminals, and Laxus saw that both of his hands had turned into the demonic form as he got closer. It was then that the camera cut off.

As much as Laxus would have wanted to see the vigilante beat the shit out of the bastards – because he really did – he was still elated with the results. This was perfect.

He leant forward and quickly opened the reply window to the email, unable to stop his face splitting gin. He knew that it wasn't likely that the Vigilante would reply to anything he sent, but the brilliance of the evidence he had gotten deserved at least a thank you.

To: UnregisteredA

Holy shit man, this is brilliant. There's no way these assholes are gonna be able to get out of it once I publish it. Thank you so much.

He watched the footage a few more times, revelling in it. He and his team had spent months trying to get enough on these bastards to bring them down, and now he had it. Gift wrapped by the hero that had saved him, no less. Adrenaline was coursing through his veins and he had to fight the temptation to work on integrating the footage into the main story immediately. But he couldn't, as incriminating the evidence was, he still needed to get this right or his professionalism might be called into question.

The Raijinshuu would work in it tomorrow. Fuck, it had been so long since they had been in this position, taking down someone so large. The buzz that'd be in the office in the morning, the determination they would all share, the expression that would paint itself onto Freed's face when he found out. It was all making Laxus' stomach flip in anticipation.

Just as he felt his mood drop slightly at the last though, his email chime rang out again.

From: UnregisteredA

It was my pleasure. I apologise for the footage cutting off so suddenly, I only just realised the extent of what they were doing and I let my anger get the better of me. The camera broke half way through the fight.

Laxus grinned, looking at the email with a slightly disbelieving expression. Not only had the guy given him the smoking gun to the story, but he had also replied to his email in a somewhat conversational way. The blonde knew that this was something that couldn't happen all the time; to have the email of a vigilante at all was unheard of, but to catch the most famous vigilante in recent history in a conversational mood was something he couldn't waste.

To: UnregisteredA

Don't apologise, I got what I needed. You must have gotten pretty into it for the camera to break though.

The reply was almost instant.

From: UnregisteredA

You must remember that I have the ability to transform parts of my body into a demonic form. For the first time, I fully transformed my entire body. The camera was thrown to the floor and smashed, though the footage obviously was intact.

To: UnregisteredA

So you can go full demon? That's pretty badass. Wish I could have seen you beat the hell out of them. Thanks for the footage though. Maybe you can show me your demon side next time you need to save me.

Laxus types with a smile, absently noting that having a conversation with the vigilante had the same easy, free-flowing feeling that he felt when he talked with Freed. Well, at least before the awkwardness of the kiss that had almost happened between them. Now, whenever they spoke, it was always forced and seemed to Laxus as if they were doing it out of obligation. He missed being able to speak to his friends like this, there was something calming about it.

From: UnregisteredA

I'd rather you not get involved in criminals at all. But I suppose, if I had to save you, I could show off a little. For such a pretty damsel.

Laxus rolled his eyes, though felt a smirk roll onto his features. The taunting cocky attitude reminded him of two things. One, why he first found the guy to be hot in the first place. And two, Freed. He tried to focus on the former point, because thinking about Freed would remind him how messed up their relationship had become as of late. He needed to distract himself from that, and right now he had a perfect way to do it.

To: UnregisteredA

I'm honoured and insulted. Demon you better be worth it.

To: UnregisteredA

So, I know it's a little odd to ask, given how we met, and we've only actually seen each other twice, but d'you mind if we keep talking? Been going through a little shit and you remind me of a guy who I kinda fucked up with. A distraction would be nice.

The moment he pressed sent in his second email, he felt nauseous. He probably shouldn't have half-vented his feelings about Freed to a guy who he barely knew, and then openly admit he wanted to form a relationship with the vigilante simply as a distraction, but he was desperate. He missed speaking to Freed like this and found himself craving it, and although it wasn't exactly the same as it was with Freed, this was a close second.

He was just about to log off and forget his stupid suggestion, when his email tone went off again. He looked down and found himself smiling at the response he had gotten.

From: UnregisteredA

That would be nice. A distraction would be good for me too.

-~~~-

Saturday September 7th, 2019, Early Evening.

"Incoming call from Laxus: Persona."

The female voice of his earpiece spoke robotically into his ear, informing him that Laxus had called him; or, more accurately, he had called his vigilante persona. It was becoming a regular occurrence and as Freed raised his hand to his ear and activated his voice changing runes, he felt a small smile paint itself onto his face.

After speaking with Laxus through email for about a week, the blonde had asked for the Vigilante's phone number. Freed hadn't replied immediately, knowing Laxus would recognise his actual phone number immediately but also not wanting to risk stopping his new form of communication with Laxus. He had pulled out his old phone that he had yet to dispose of, brought a cheap contract that gave him unlimited calls, and given that number to Laxus. He transferred all calls from Laxus into his normal phone and could now take any calls from the blonde while on patrol. Balancing himself on the edge of the building he stood on, he took the call.

"Mr Dreyar," He spoke in his demonic tone. "A pleasure to hear your voice again."

He heard a small laugh come through his ear as he looked down the alleyways under him. He had heard through his police radio hack that drug dealers had been frequenting this backstreet, and that they were dealing exclusively with a drug that the police called Spitfire. He hadn't been able to fully understand how bad this drug was, but they were treating it with the same gravitas as Crack, so he would try and stop the dealers whenever possible.

"Nice to hear your echoed bullshit voice," Laxus chuckled, and Freed felt his smile grow. "You ever gonna let me know anything about you?"

Freed let out a small laugh; Laxus had asked a pretty loaded question without realising it. "Maybe one day."

He watched with narrowed eyes as a young man came down the alleyway and rested against the streetlamp placed there. He was wearing a baseball cap and a large coat despite the pretty warm weather, so it was a pretty good guess that he was the drug dealer the police wanted. He would keep watch for now, not wanting to act before he could be sure.

"Look forward to that day," Laxus' voice was slightly tinny through his earpiece. "You on patrol?"

"Of course," Freed nodded, despite being on a call with the man. He would only answer the phone in his vigilante persona when on patrol, just in case Laxus decided to make him his next story and wanted to track his phone. "And you?"

"At home," Laxus said, and Freed thought he heard a yawn somewhere between the words. "Just had a pizza. Highlight of my day."

Frowning a little, Freed looked up from the potential drug dealer. Laxus wasn't one to be openly forlorn, but his relationship with Freed's vigilante self allowed Laxus to be more open about how he was feeling. He suspected that, as they didn't exactly know each other personally, Laxus felt as though he could be open about his feelings as they weren't close enough for repercussions to happen. If Laxus didn't have to face his emotions directly, then he forget that he had allowed himself to be so vulnerable.

Still, the two men had been working in the office throughout the day. They had already released the Oración Seis story over two weeks ago and had been dealing with interview requests from other media outlets since. The media frenzy was dying down, meaning they had been given time to catch up on their normal work.

But the issue that made Freed pause was that Laxus hadn't shown any negativity while he worked.

In fact, he still seemed to be riding off the high of his report. The Oración Seis had been pretty much obliterated, as were their clients, and the police were investigating pretty much everything the family had done in the last ten years. The Raijinshuu had been given a large amount of credit for shining a light onto this issue, the video that Freed had taken had gone viral, and all four of them had gained a pretty big career boost. Laxus seemed to enjoy everything that had happened, so to hear him acting like he was concerned Freed.

"Is something wrong?" He asked, looking back down to the alleyway. "You usually sound as joyful as a kid in a candy store."

"Asshole," Laxus chuckled a little at the sarcasm. "And I don't know. Just feel a little crap right now?"

"Did something happen?" Freed found himself asking before he could stop himself.

"Nothing big or anything, just kind of a rough day at work?"

Freed frowned, either Laxus was lying or he was considerably better at hiding his emotions that Freed had given him credit for. He tried to shake off the feeling that he had missed something bothering Laxus by glaring down at the alleyway again, watching as someone also covered completely walked down. Perhaps focusing on the potential drug dealing would make him feel less responsible for Laxus' mood.

This was something that immediately was disproven when the newcomer to the alley walked straight past the supposed drug dealer and to the other side of the building. So there went the distraction then.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He offered, keeping his eyes down.

"You some kind of therapist now?" Laxus joked slightly.

"How do you know that isn't what I do as a day job?" Freed retorted with a grin.

"Good point," Laxus sounded as though he was smiling as he spoke. "It wasn't like anything bad happened, not really. It's just, I don't know… you know when we started emailing and I said I needed to distract myself from something. I'm starting to think that maybe I shouldn't have stayed distracted for so long, 'cause it ain't fun."

"I thought you enjoyed your work."

Freed knew that his statement was weak and unhelpful, but he felt a certain level of guilt. Assuming he was right in his guess Laxus wanted a distraction from the deterioration of their relationship, it felt as though he was spying on his friend.

"It ain't the job," Laxus seemed to sigh. "The guy who sits across from me, basically my partner. I've kinda wanted, I don't know, just something to happen with him. And it nearly did, and then it didn't, and we haven't been talked about it since it nearly happened. And that just feels shit."

The tone in which Laxus was speaking told Freed that this was something that he had wanted to get off his chest for quite some time, and Freed couldn't say he didn't feel the same way.

"And the worse thing is, it just feels weird around him now," Laxus continued. "Like, I used to be closer to him than anyone else, and now it feels like we have to avoid talking about anything serious just in case we start talking about the time I nearly kissed the fucker. So it's just, one stupid misjudged thing I did when I was kinda drunk and I pushed him away. And now it's gone on for so fucking long that it'll be more awkward if we do talk about it now. And it just hit me today how shit it all feels."

"What happened today?"

He wasn't proud of himself for asking, but Freed couldn't help himself. Although he missed the easy conversation that occurred between him and Laxus, he also had felt the absence of their serious conversations. He had never been altogether confident in his emotions, and Freed had often had to help him when he was vulnerable.

The issue now was that Laxus was vulnerable because of him. He could either help him without Laxus knowing it was him or leave him in the state of emotional hell. It was the sadness in Laxus' voice that made Freed's choice for him.

"I just looked at him and though, holy shit," Laxus confessed. "He was just so… fucking perfect. Like, a guy can be handsome or hot or whatever, and you can appreciate it then move on. Like, I know you're pretty good looking, but knowing that isn't gonna change my life. But with him, when I was looking at him, he just personified everything. He was handsome, sexy, beautiful, soft, rugged, intimidating and inviting and fucking everything. It's like, I had the gold standard of men and I fucked it up."

"You can't be sure of that," Freed spoke softly. "Maybe the reason he hasn't addressed the issue is the same reason you haven't. Maybe he just doesn't know how."

"Well, the bastards just as stubborn as me. Pretty big achievement," Laxus laughed, and Freed found himself joining in on it. "But in that moment, I just wanted to scream that we need to cut the bullshit, we should be together. You ever felt like that?"

"Yes," Freed admitted, blushing slightly. Even if he only said one word, it was the first time he had outwardly admitted his feelings for the blonde. "I guess I do."

"You got any ideas on what the hell we should do about it?" Laxus asked, and Freed almost laughed at just how appropriate the use of the word 'we' was in the situation. He didn't laugh though, instead he ran a hand through his hair as he sat back on the top of the roof.

"We should do what men like us should always do, I suppose," Freed sighed. "Get over our damn selves and follow our instincts."

"Yeah," Laxus said, and Freed could guess he nodded slightly. "Yeah, I think I might have needed to hear someone tell me that. Thanks. You don't mind if leave ya right now, do ya? I'm gonna go, do it now before I lose the balls. Thanks man."

The line went dead before Freed could reply, and a swirl of emotions filled the vigilante's stomach. The main question attacking his mind was if he had the right to give any suggestions to Laxus, but he had tried to be as ambiguous in his advice as he could. He didn't directly say for Laxus to ask him out – if that was what he was going to do – as he had just said for the man to follow his instincts. And he hadn't lead him to that conclusion, all he did was ask the questions that would allow Laxus to get his troubles off his mind.

And what was he meant to do? Laxus was a closed book, and if Freed hadn't shown him sympathy and a listening ear in that moment, the blonde would have closed up even more than normal. He was clearly hurting, so cutting himself off from his emotions entirely would be the worse thing to do.

'Shit.' Freed thought as he looked down. The dealer was gone.

"Incoming call from Laxus Dreyar."

The sudden voice in his ear informing him that Laxus was calling him, rather than his vigilante persona, made Freed jolt where he sat. As he dispelled the runes on his arm that changed his voice, he realised that they hadn't called each other since before their almost kiss. It wasn't like it was a regular occurrence before, but he found himself engulfed in a comforting sense of familiarity at the fact it was happening again.

"Laxus," He greeted in his actual voice after accepting the call. "Is something wrong."

"No," Laxus said. "Well, yeah actually. I'm sick of avoiding it. We nearly kissed, it happened. And honestly, I want to kiss you. A hell of a lot. And every fucking time I see you, there's something that screams at me to kiss you. I wish I had that night, I wish I had the day after, and I've been wishing I had ever since. And that's it.

"So, I know we've got this party to celebrate the article, and I know you ain't a big party guy, but if you want then maybe we can go together. If you don't want to, then obviously that's fine, but I'd really fucking love it you could be my date. So, yeah. Balls in your court now."

Freed paused, unable to stop himself from smiling. He had always suspected Laxus was putting on a slight act with his vigilante self, like he was showing his better side. But this was the true Laxus: a slightly socially awkward man that, although he might not be the most in tune with his emotions, he had the courage to stick to his convictions and put himself out there no matter the risk it had to him. This was the man he had fallen for.

"It would be my honour," Freed replied.

As Laxus fumbled through an expression of gratitude accompanied with a lot of unneeded profanity – something that made Freed wish this was happening face to face, as Laxus would be incredibly endearing to look at – the vigilante made a promise to himself. He'd been lying to the blonde for too long. If they were to have a relationship, Laxus needed to know who he was.

On the night of their date, he would have to reveal himself as Magnolia's vigilante.

-~~~-

Friday September 13th, 2019, Early Evening.

"Hey, sorry I'm a little late. There was a little- holy shit."

Laxus was standing at Freed's door as he cut himself off, resisting the urge to let his mouth fall agape. Looking up at Freed, he felt his breath hitch and his heart swell. He was dressed in a dark blue suit, his hair tied low in a style that Laxus had never seen, and his face blessed with the softest of smiles as he looked up towards Laxus. The blonde found himself unable to point out a single flaw on the man before him, not that he was going to try to.

He must have been quiet for too long, because Freed raised an eyebrow and his smile took on an amused quality. Laxus felt himself blushing slightly as he shook his head, trying to remove himself from the trance that Freed had put him in.

"Sorry. You look great, that's all," He mumbled, leaning forward and pressing his lips to Freed's cheek. Only after did he realise what he had done, and blushed again. "Sorry, you don't mind do you?"

"No, it was good," Freed smiled, Laxus' hear swelling. "And you look good too."

"Thanks," Laxus smiled.

He found it hard to believe that he looked good when compared to the man before him. Laxus himself was also dressed in a suit, white with golden trimmings and a black shirt beneath it. He knew he looked good in his formal attire, but Freed seemed like he belonged in the clothes he wore, and damn did he look good. The blonde now kicked himself for missing all the company dinners that Freed had attended, as each dinner would have given Laxus the chance to see Freed looking as handsome as he was in that moment.

Though, Laxus suspected Freed would look good in anything he wore.

The photographer stepped from the threshold of his apartment and locked the door behind him. Laxus smiled as they walked down the hallways of Freed's building and towards the elevator. They didn't hold hands, nor did they link arms, but the occasional brushings of elbows and knuckles was enough to make Laxus giddy.

After he had taken the leap and asked Freed onto this date, with help from the Vigilante, it seemed as though his relationship with Freed had become something more normal again. They could speak together with ease, were happy to go on assignments together whereas before they would have been somewhat hesitant, and Laxus found himself enjoying his work a hell of a lot more than he when they had been awkward around each other. The only difference was an added subtle flirtation between them; something that didn't go missed by Bickslow and Evergreen.

Bickslow hadn't been subtle with his 'at last' attitude when they had confessed that they would be going to the party as each other's date.

As they entered the elevator, Laxus found himself amused by his own awkwardness. The odd flirtatious comment or teasing had been easy during their work hours, but now they were faced with the actual date he was acting clumsy around Freed. It was fine to be nervous about this though, it meant he was taking their date seriously.

"Did you manage to talk your grandfather out of making you give a speech?" Freed asked, making Laxus groan.

"He said he wouldn't," The blonde spoke with a small pout. "But he had this fucking look on his face. Think he's just gonna make me do it anyway and told me he wouldn't so I wont plan it out and I'll make an ass outta myself."

"He wouldn't do that," At Freed's words, Laxus looked towards him with a raised eyebrow. He still looked beautiful. "Point taken. If he does, we'll just dig up some blackmail on him."

Laxus grinned, biting his tongue slightly as he fought the temptation to explain that the mischievous side of the photographer was one of the things he loved about the man. As socially awkward as he may be, even he knew that the word love shouldn't be said on the first date; not even if it was contained to a single attribute of the man. Or, more specifically, multiple attributes of the man that covered pretty much everything about him.

So avoiding the subject of love was for the best.

A soft, easy atmosphere now forming around them both, they left the apartment building and walked towards the limousine that had been organised for them both; the Raijinshuu were the guests of honour, after all. The car was meant for all four of the team, but Ever and Bickslow had sacrificed their seats so that Freed and Laxus could spend some of their night alone.

As they walked to the car, Laxus found his mind wonder slightly to the Vigilante. He couldn't be sure if this date would even be happening if the man hadn't told him to stop putting the conversation off.

It was odd. The moment he had asked Freed on the date, he not only felt a sense of relief from finally talking his relationship further with Freed, he also seemed to lack the sense of dependence of the vigilante that he had grown accustomed to. The phone calls that, at that point, had occurred at least every other day now didn't happen, and the last time he had contacted the Vigilante was because he wanted to thank the man a final time. That had happened over a week ago.

Somehow, it felt as though the vigilante was some kind of imaginary friend. Now that he had finished with his issues with Freed, he didn't need the vigilante anymore.

"You okay?" Laxus looked up at Freed's voice, seeing the photographer holding open the car door.

"Yeah, sorry. Lost in thought," He sent an appeasing grin to the man as he closed the distance between them both, climbing into the vehicle as Freed held the door for him. When Freed sat beside him, the blonde smirked. "So you're gonna be a gentleman tonight, then?"

"Somebody has to be," Freed smirked. "And I can't imagine a ruffian such as yourself being able to step up in that regard."

As Laxus opened his mouth to retort the obvious teasing, he felt his right hand be lifted up slightly by his date and soft cold lips press themselves against his knuckled. The blonde paused where he sat, slowly looking down to see the eyes of his date that were somehow both angelic and demonic at the same time.

The feeling of Freed's lips against his skin had sent a shiver around Laxus' body, and Freed clearly knew it. he was just glad that the teasing expression on the photographer's face became nothing more, because hearing a joke at his expense from his date may shut him down entirely.

Driving to the company building where the party was happening didn't take long, or at least it didn't seem like a long time as once the conversation started up again it didn't stop. Laxus found himself incredibly glad that he could be like this with Freed again, his distraction in the Vigilante having made him forgot just how much a hole had been created when Freed wasn't fully in his life. Being able to enjoy the man's company so openly, it was perfect, and the idea that they could become more intimate without losing that friendship sent electricity through Laxus' body. It was a thrilling possibility, and one Laxus was determined to make real.

When they arrived outside of the office, Laxus made sure to get out of the car first and hold the door open for Freed. The photographer may have been joking before, but Laxus would be damned if he let the man think he was right. Freed simply chuckled and smiled at his actions.

"The perfect gentleman," He assured Laxus, who smirked at the idiocy of his actions and the fact that Freed was willing to play along.

Entering the building, they saw that the desks of the ground floor had been removed and replaced to make the room look as though it was a ballroom. Given that it had been a fully functioning news room earlier in the day, the change was shocking and impressive. Laxus and Freed both walked in side by side, the soft music of the jazz band setting a pleasant atmosphere as they looked around their colleagues.

Some people acknowledged them, some people congratulated them on their article and the effect it was having, and some people didn't notice them. In Laxus' mind, this was a victory. He would much rather have this kind of reception than some cringe inducing applause as they came in; and he suspected Freed felt the same way.

"Thank you asking me to come here," Freed spoke almost softly. "I know I would have been here anyway, but it feels better being here with you, rather than just alongside you. If truth be told, I missed you. And I'm glad we're trying this."

Laxus felt his heart swell slightly at the confession. "I'm glad too."

With a small burst of courage given to him by Freed's words, Laxus leant down slightly and pressed his lips against Freed's. It was a split-second kiss, chaste and innocent, but it sent a flurry of passion throughout the blonde's body that made him crave for more. Despite it being a cliché, he felt like he had been struck like lighting in the few short moments their lips had touched.

When he pulled back, both he and Freed were blushing. It was subtle, but the redness of the other mans cheeks made Laxus smile softly. He could only hope that he was see that slightly dazed expression on Freed's face again after being the cause of it.

"Wow," Laxus whispered, smiling. "Pretty fucking good."

"Yeah," Freed agreed, also smiling. "We should make a habit of doing that."

Laxus laughed, nodding slightly as he stood up straight again. He found his eyes couldn't leave Freed as they both calmed slightly, standing in the middle of the room. Freed must have got control over his blush before Laxus could – the blonde could still feel his cheeks burning – and he let out a small laugh.

"I'll get us some drinks," Freed offered, Laxus nodding. As Freed walked Laxus, he placed a hand on his arm and Laxus' skin tingled despite the two layers of clothing. He frowned slightly as Freed spoke again. "Good luck."

The blonde frowned at Freed's words, and pivoted so he could look to whatever Freed was speaking of. He let out a slightly defeated laugh as he saw exactly what Freed was wishing him luck over; Mirajane was walking towards him with quite possibly the largest smile on her face humanly possible. She was known to be a pretty big gossip and, as they hadn't been secretive about their kiss, it was obvious that Mirajane had seen it and had a lot of questions. And Freed had left Laxus to her mercy bastard.

He would have done the same thing, though. The guy was perfect for him.

The moment Mirajane had closed the distance between them both, the questions started to come. When had it happened? Was this a date? Was this their first date? Had they secretly been together for years and was that why Freed had denied her offers to set them up? Laxus would have to ask Freed about that last one later, but he couldn't do it when the barrage of questions continued. How she managed to speak so much without losing her breath astounded Laxus.

Although he tried to answer as many questions as he could, it was hard to remember all he had asked. Still, she seemed too preoccupied by the fact that he and Freed were on a date to care all that much that he had missed out some of her questions.

As she calmed herself slightly, Laxus allowed his gaze to drift slightly. Freed had picked up two glasses of what Laxus assumed was champagne and was waiting by bar by himself. At first Laxus assumed he was waiting there just so he could avoid the force of nature and her endless questioning, but he could see that Freed's smile had slipped slightly and he looked almost panicked. Well, as panicked as a man so in control of his emotions could be. He excused himself form Mirajane before she could say anything and walked towards his date with a small expression of concern on his face.

"You okay?" He asked, Freed's head snapping up to him. "You look a little… on edge."

"I'm fine," He said, voice wavering slightly. That concerned Laxus. "Sorry, do you mind if we go to the office for a moment, I need to talk to you about something."

Laxus frowned, but nodded, and they both made their way to the staircase. The short walk to their private office filled Laxus with apprehension as to what had happened in the few moments that would make the usually unwavering man suddenly calm up and ask to speak in private. His immediate reaction was that maybe Freed had realised after the kiss that he didn't want anything romantic with him, and even though it was an unconfirmed thought it still hurt like a bitch.

When they entered the office, Freed pulled his desk chair out so that it was next to Laxus' desk, a silent invitation for the blonde to sit. The blonde did so, speaking before he could give Freed the chance to beat him to it.

"This isn't… you ain't gonna tell me you regret coming as my date, right?" Laxus asked, willing his voice not to break. Freed's head snapped up again, and he seemed shocked at the suggestion.

"No. Go no. Being here with you, its wonderful. In fact, it's practically the opposite," Freed assured Laxus, and the blonde felt his anxiety drop considerably. "When we kissed, it made me aware of how much I want something with you, and that I'd happily be with you for as long as possible. But if that's going to happen, I need to be honest with you in a way that I haven't been for a long time now."

Laxus didn't restrain his frown. Although to hear that Freed wanted to have an actual relationship with him was fantastic – it really was – the idea that Freed had been lying to him made him nervous. He couldn't think of anything his photographer could have bene lying about, certainly not something that would be so important that Freed would feel the need to confess it before he could have any kind of romance with him. The lack of knowing gave Laxus a sense of dread in his stomach, and he silently motioned for his date to continue, not yet trusting his voice.

"I'm not quite sure how to say it, so I think I'll just show you," When Freed spoke, his voice was almost cautious.

The photographer slowly removed his blazer and placed it on the back of his chair, then rolled up the sleeves of his shirt to reveal his left forearm. Although Laxus wanted to voice his confusion – there was nothing irregular about the part of his body he was showing – he trusted that this was something important enough for Freed to take seriously, so he kept his mouth shut.

Without either man speaking, glowing purple shapes appeared on Freed's skin. They were the same shapes that Laxus had come to relate to the vigilante. A moment later, his arms started to mutate exactly the same way the vigilante's did, and his hand turned to the exact same claw.

What the fuck?

He looked up to see that Freed's eyes were glowing a soft purple, which died down as the transformation ended. The expression Freed wore as he looked back up to Laxus – a look of reassignment, shown through a sad smile and accepting eyes – told Laxus everything he needed to know about what he had just seen.

Freed was the vigilante.

"Shit," He whispered, his mind racing as he caught up with all that would mean.

He hadn't been saved by a stranger; he had been saved by his best friend. The night of the fire he hadn't just misremembered Freed wearing a coat exactly the same that the vigilante had, he had actually seen him adorning the man's clothing. The easy conversation that he had shared with the vigilante hadn't just reminded him of the conversations he had with Freed, they were an extension to the conversations he could have with Freed.

"It was you?" He asked, looking towards Freed.

"Yes. I'm sorry," Freed's voice was soft, almost as if he were trying not to spook Laxus. "I know I shouldn't have kept it a secret from you, certainly not after we met one another while I was acting in that form. And I feel as though I have manipulated you into asking me coming here, and I do feel guilty about that."

It was now Laxus' turn to snap his head up. He hadn't considered the fact that Freed had some kind of influence on their date becoming a reality, and even now he thought about the possibility he couldn't say that the Vigilante – or Freed – had actually manipulated him in any way. It wasn't as if he had bene probing to get to the topic of his love life, and then demanded that he asked his photographer out. All he had done was say that Laxus should follow his instincts, and Laxus instincts were his and his alone.

"You didn't manipulate me," Laxus assured him. "Just gave me the kick in the ass I needed."

"Still," Freed's voice was still hesitant. "I did interfere while you didn't know who you were-"

"Freed, I wanted to ask you out the first time we worked together. I wanted to kiss you that night, and I still do," Laxus' voice was more certain that it had been before. "I'm shocked, and it's weird. Might take some time for me to get used to it, but I will. This is still a date, and I still want to be with you."

"Are you sure?" Freed asked, and Laxus nodded with a small smile.

"Definitely," Laxus assured him, and Freed smiled.

Laxus leant over and pressed another kiss onto the photographer's lips. The fire and electricity still filled him when their lips touched, and that was enough for him to be totally sure that this secret was nothing really, and that once he had gotten used to it, it would be like nothing had happened and their date could continue. He let his hand rest on the man's cheek in a small act of endearment, letting Freed know without a single doubt that he wasn't going to hold any grudge or anger about this.

But then, as he removed his hand from the man's soft skin, a thought occurred to him, and his cheeks suddenly burned a brilliant red.

"I said you were hot. I told you I thought the vigilante was hot a couple times. And I told the vigilante that I thought you were sexy," He said, his voice showing his embarrassment in the realisation. "And all the time, I was just talking about you."

"I'm afraid so," Freed said with a slight laugh. "Quite the ego boost, I must say."

"Fuck, you didn't need that," Laxus chuckled, running an embarrassed hand over his face as a groan left his lips. He let himself laugh though and looked towards his date again. "You asshole."

"I suppose so," Freed agreed. "Are you sure you're okay, I'd understand if you felt like you needed to think."

"I don't need time to think, Freed. I've been thinking for months now, and I'm fucking bored of it. You've always been the guy for him, and having you be the guy to save my life without me knowing isn't gonna change that," Laxus assured him, a grin forming on his lips. "Besides, who the hell else is the damsel in distress gonna fall for."

When Freed laughed at Laxus' joke, the blonde found his heart flutter again. The tension in the room that had occurred between the two of them had lessened now and for that, Laxus was thankful. The sound of Freed' genuine, unstrained laugh was something he often found himself craving and, due to its rarity, it was something he would always cherish.

He leant forward and pressed his lips against Freed's for a third time, becoming quickly addicted to it. This time, he lingered for a second and allowed himself to fully enjoy the sensation of Freed's cold, un-chapped lips against his own.

"But," He whispered as he pulled back. "Tell anyone I called myself a damsel in distress, I'm getting every embarrassing thing you've ever done on the front cover."

"Noted," Freed said with a laugh. "We should get back soon, though."

They both stood up and, as Freed went to walk to the door, Laxus grabbed his hand and pulled him back. He placed both hands on the man's waist and allowed their bodies to press against each other softly, staring at his date and hero in adoration. He slowly started to lean down again, intending to pull Freed into another kiss, this time something less than chaste. Just as their lips were going to push against each other, a loud knock came from the office door.

Laxus found himself cussing under his breath. Getting cut off before a kiss better not become a regular thing.

"You two better not be intending to spent the whole night in there," The voice was undeniably from Makarov, and it contained a teasing tone. "You might not be able to keep your hands off each other, but there's a crowd out there wanting a speech from the lead author of the most read story of the year."

"Fucking knew he would do that," Laxus hissed, only slightly wanting to throttle his grandfather. "Time to make a dick out of myself, I guess."

He tried to untangle himself from Freed but found himself still pushed against his date. He looked down at Freed with a soft, questioning look, to which Freed simply smiled in response. "If you think that it's your fate to fall for me, then it's my fate to keep my love safe, wouldn't you think?"

Before Laxus could reply, Freed leant upwards and pressed their lips together. They moved slowly, showing more passion than they had in the few instances that they had kissed before. Laxus wrapped his arms around Freed's waist closer as he slowly, tentatively licked the bottom of Freed's lips in a silent request for entrance. Freed's eagerness was obvious, as the next moment their kiss became more impassioned as their tongues batted against one another.

As they kissed, Laxus felt a tingling sensation overcome his body. It was unique, and as he opened his eyes, he saw that Freed was disintegrating into the purple shapes that his magic was made form. He then saw that he was doing the same things. His hero was saving him from embarrassment, it seemed.

Yeah, dating a vigilante who happened to be the love of his life was something he could get used to. definitely.

#fraxus #freed justine #Laxus Dreyar #fairy tail #fanfic #Based off a headcanon #aphtoris

[incarnateirony]

An apology, but a story.

Okay guys, sorry for uh, talking so much about Pillowfort lately. I do mean it when I say I’m still here to stay until Tumblr totally dies, and I know I’ve been posting a LOT of PF content, but I’m also trying to help tailor an environment over there where this fandom can thrive. Add in momma’s heart attack and coma and my dash has been a hot mess and bare bones of my usual content, and I apologize.

But at the same time I’d like to sort of tell a bit of a flashback story of social media, fandom, and why I really do hope the best for Pillowfort. Some people are too young to remember the slow death of Livejournal, and I’m having like, flashbacks from that. I wasn’t in SPN fandom itself at the time but I was on LJ, so if you’re 

worried about your friends leaving

intent on sticking to tumblr hell or high water

kind of upset at some friends trying to manage both

Let me give a little bit of history to explain what people are doing right now and why.

Long long ago, in a digital world far away when the internet still screamed at you when you connected to it, fandom wasn’t really globalized like it is. Twitter didn’t exist. Eventually Facebook was a hot new commodity not everybody adopted immediately. Tumblr wasn’t a sparkle in anybody’s eye. 

Fandom was mostly relegated to php forums and places like Livejournal. Livejournal proved to be -- at the time -- one of the best methods to engage in fandom. You could have your own journal, but you could also join communities with your account and comment on long discussions. 

There were weaknesses of this to be sure. Notifications were pretty raw to nonexistent compared to how we know of them modernly. You had to basically manually check the comm to stay on top of things, and what was said in that comm was choked to that comm. Now, that had its strengths: you could control the community and posts, ergo minimizing flame wars, but it made fandom a bunch of pigeonhole wings and, to be honest, echo chambers. Lots of things got missed, overlooked, and what have you. And god help you if you pissed off a big name fan in your wing that owned one or most of the communities you went to. Replies and the ilk were pretty limited on what you could do, too. But it was something. It was more than just a standard forum. You could still try to cross-engage.

Then came the LJ Purge, which... is pretty much identical to the Tumblr purge. New rules banishing NSFW to the depths of the internet, some out of control censorship, targeting all LGBT content no matter how pure as NSFW and explicit -- you name it. They didn’t really have wildly out of control filterbots, that’s a new modern invention just to shit in our bin a little better, but you get the idea. What happened -- and is still, more quietly, now that the shock has passed -- to Tumblr is what happened to LJ. People lost mountains of work. 

Now, LJ didn’t die overnight. It died over the course of a few years. Some people left fairly quickly, others tried to stay aboard. For example, Destiel fandom was fairly young at the point the LJ Purge kicked off, and were already sort of outsiders among the fandom newsletters that were more Gen or Wincest doused at that point because -- well, duh -- they had a several year running start on that platform. The communities, as above, were really regulated. There just wasn’t room to breathe. Sure, they had their own comms, but once material started vanishing, they were much more eager to, en masse, migrate to a new platform. And yes, some stayed behind longer, because people, even in shipland, aren’t a borg.

Other communities, like gen or Wincest, stayed behind longer. They had years of built up work and huge communities they were attached to there and it was a lot harder for them to let that all go. But it didn’t get better. More quietly, once the hysteria ended, people just lost their will to continue to use livejournal and they more dribbled across.

Some went to Dreamwidth back then. Some went to tumblr. Long term, tumblr worked for everybody until now. Dreamwidth was pretty much Livejournal, minus censorship, plus a few bells and whistles but it worked for a few people, but let’s face it -- that’s not where central fandom ended up.

Now, people are talking alternatives. Some are saying to go back to Dreamwidth. I refuse. 

Because there’s a reason it wasn’t the most successful platform in the past and we’ll go back to completely segregated fandom like before and 

because certain aspects of fandom that DID go to Dreamwidth and stay there, have still been there, and are a huge thorn in the side to almost anyone with their head screwed on straight, Destiel fandom or not. J2 tinhats are the eternal asscramps of the fandom and they’ve squatted on dreamwidth for their crazy ass tinhat page for years, god knows they probably went to adjacent communities, god knows how ingrained they are into it, and I am NOT willing to deal with that level of horse shit again.

Pornhub tried a grab, that didn’t work, as it shouldn’t, for a list of reasons as long as my arm; Mastodon was suggested, but has a huge issue in some of its other channels that people don’t want to float in the vicinity of. 

And then there’s Pillowfort.

So look, Pillowfort is young, it is a smolbabe. In a few months it went from 4K users to 25K users and is growing innumerably by the day. Its servers are struggling. That turns some people off. I get that. But that isn’t permanent.

So first of all, early pioneers are what make migrations work. Just like LJ had its initial members, and then tumblr had its early migrators, places like Pillowfort can be the same. Dreamwidth already has its foundations. That’s redundant, and foundations I’m not even going to touch, much less the regressive, divisive form of communities that will segregate all of us again. It’s fine if you aren’t one of the first people to take up the platform. The people ahead of you will start laying down content and communities and, if it works out, you can join in when you’re ready.

So what makes Pillowfort so fucking special?

Okay, so check it out. On tumblr, we’re used to reblogging shit into the bowels of the internet. As Pillowfort grows it, too, has that capability with some differences.

The boldest difference is that when you reblog, your opinion doesn’t get attached to the end of the post. It just reblogs the base post. Some people initially complained and thought that was the loss of a feature but came to realize it’s a blessing.

You see, that means someone can’t kidnap your post with a shitty opinion to reblog it to their friends with a shitty opinion that all attach their heckling shitty opinions. Like, let’s say it’s someone that’s Destiel fandom reading this. Ever had an anti shit reblog your post and it run wild? Well, now, if they try to reblog it, all they reblog is... your Destiel post. Thanks for that.

So how do we actually say what we need to?

Well, fam, it incorporated elements from LJ/DW, in having threaded replies. Multiple threads if so needed. The threaded replies are capable of housing just about anything an OP has. So a blog post has, alongside Like/Reblog notifications, comments. Open the post, read the comments, start an actual conversation with some merit. Did some douchebag come to spam your comments since they can’t reblog? No problem, delete their shitty comments and block them, problem solved.

But it doesn’t end there.

See, like LJ, PF has communities. While your post can reblog just about anywhere just like on tumblr, you can blog or reblog them into the communities you follow. Anyone following that community, whether they follow you directly or not, gets that turning up in their feed, maximizing your spread. So sure, it’s a young platform and you only have 20 followers or whatever, but if you make a general Supernatural style post and blog it to the SPN com, 300 people (at current) see it. If you post something to the Destiel comm, over 200 people see it. It’s a way to even find new accounts and friends.

If you don’t like something that’s turning up in a community, you can blacklist shit. And/or find a more appropriate community if it gets out of hand to you.

When you make your own communities you can have internal discussions or blog in/out posts, you can set rules, promote moderators, remove or ban problem users, and generally control the flow of your community to keep out shitlords. But, if for example, you subscribed to a community that turns out to be secretly run BY a shitlord because, IDK, maybe they don’t like that you think Sam is bi or something, most of these communities are large and blog in/out/engageable enough that you won’t lose your contacts, you WILL find your people over time, and you won’t be completely choked off to a singular abyss.

So the base beat is

PF treats every single post like any root post on an LJ/DW comm, but is able to be reblogged from/to communities or your own blog page as freely as tumblr.  PF takes the best concepts of current and previous fandom platforms in its base application and lays a groundwork that literally all of us can prosper on if it survives and continues. 

But that’s the catch.

And it’s cool if you aren’t ready to completely take that leap yet. I get that.

“I kinda like PF but it doesn’t have X feature-”

Okay look, PF is a smolbabe, like I said. It’s in beta. The thing is, they’re adding things every day. They have a dev list like 2 pages long for goals and things are getting crossed off and added like, biweekly. It might already be on their list to add. And if it’s not, guess what?

The staff actually give a shit and react to questions and concerns. There’s entire beta groups to talk about features with bugs, and/or features that should be added or adjusted. There’s a comm to talk directly to the staff about things.

A small, young platform needs people willing to be out there saying what would improve the experience. So if you go there, you’re not just fandom pioneers, you’re social media pioneers if you so choose to be. It’s not mandatory. You can just fan in your space how you want. Or you can go to the beta groups and staff groups and tell them what you think would improve the experience. 

And again, it’s okay if you aren’t willing to move right now.

I’m not moving entirely. I’m double blogging, and will return to my regularly scheduled blogging on tumblr here soon, now that my life is calming down and I got most of my PF heavy lifting out of the way. But I want to make a nest in case this does pan out to be the next forward horizon, rather than taking a step back to something like Dreamwidth that segregates us all again. I want to help them build that platform. 

But I’ll still be here with you guys.

But if you’ve felt like friends are abandoning you

Please try to understand the history, please understand what they’re doing and why they’re doing it, and just try to encourage them to cross blog where you can/will engage. And if you’re feeling daring one day? Try to poke your head into PF.

I have one remaining key that I’m willing to give a really good fandom creator. I gave one to a meta-mind and I’d like this to go to a heavy, inclusive gif creator, because that’s still a sparse art on PF. You’d be the belle of the ball just for crossposting your work, in a place that DOESN’T have a threat of it getting deleted when tumblr throws a hissyfit. Just post on both. Tada. Suddenly you’re the popular kid.

If you’re interested, if you poke your head in, check my recent post listing communities that are growing rapidly and the ilk to know where to get your feet wet. Or send me a DM. I’ll help.

We good? Cool.

#supernatural #fandom #fandom history #pillowfort #tumblr exodus #livejournal apocalypse

[rockabelle]

Hello, fellow endmight shippers!

I wanted to update you on the endmight week event I’ve been trying to organize. I just wnat to caution you that I’ve never actually done anything like this before, so I’ve been trying to research how others have done similar weeks. I’ve found a little bit of helpful info, but for the rest I’m just winging it, LOL. So please be patient with me :)

I realized that a month was far too short a time for word to be spread and works to be made, so I’m pushing the dates back to March 3rd-9th. I’m also putting together an endmight week tumblr account, twitter account and ao3 collection. I’ll let people know how to find them when they’re ready, which should be in just a couple days. There will be an official announcement of the prompts that can be sent around soon (with a banner whooooo), but the prompts themselves are as I mentioned earlier, and won’t be changing- Day 1: Past, Day 2: Soulmates, Day 3: Sick, Day 4: Secrets, Day 5: Obsession, Day 6: Change, Day 7: Tea. So you can go ahead and get started, if you like. :)

Both the tumblr and twitter account are for updates, general info, and will also reblog/retweet whatever works are posted in the endmightweek tag. And fic authors on ao3 can choose to add their fics to the “endmight week 2019″ collection (this will not remove the fic from your own account, it will just also gather it in an easily searchable place).

So, I have a request. I have been on twitter only a few times and know very little about it and have practically no followers because I barely ever use it. I’ve already created the endmight week twitter account- would anyone else be interested in managing it? I can handle it if no one else can, but I’d love to turn it over to someone a bit more experienced, if anyone’s willing. It would be nice to have someone else to share the load. Like I said, the account is already made, so you’d basically just be tweeting some of the announcements that I make on tumblr (copy and paste, yo), and retweeting works posted to the endmightweek twitter tag. I put a link to the tumblr account on the twitter page, so any questions people have can just be directed back here to me.

The only requirements are that you be familiar with twitter, be reliable in updating, and love endmight. Any takers?

#endmight #endmightweek #bnha #endeavor #all might